


A Lost Hope

by Daily



Series: A Lost Hope [1]
Category: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Digidestined, Friendship, Male Slash, Nothing more than a few kisses here and there, War, crests, digimon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 25,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4275957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daily/pseuds/Daily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A simple trip to the Digital World ends in disaster and the Digidestined are left to pick up the pieces when one of their own is seemingly lost. But when a sign of life is given, the others are pulled into a whirlwind of events that will change them for good.</p>
<p>Taishiro, though no more than a few kisses are involved here and there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any character you recognise. 
> 
> Warnings: 
> 
> This story contains slash/yaoi, this means two boys in love. Don’t like it then don’t read it. I will not accept flaming over the choice of pairing.
> 
> Mentioning of torture in later chapters and some (temporarily) character deaths.
> 
> Taishiro.
> 
> Enjoy
> 
> I am finally rewriting this story, almost ten years after originally writing it. I’ve decided to leave the contents mostly the same, only updating the grammar and removing as much mistakes as I can while changing a few little things. A Lost Hope was my first baby and although I’ve gained some experience in writing more proper stories, this one will always hold a special place because it was the first thing I dared to post and therefore I wanted to share it here.

It was a bright and shiny morning in Odaiba.

The Digidestined all had a free day from school and had decided to spend the day together in the Digital world with their Digimon companions. 

After some arguing, a picnic had been decided upon and they had all collected food from their houses.

The group of children met up in the computer classroom of the Odaiba High School and Izzy opened the gate for them.

“All right everyone, have fun and do try to stay out of trouble for once.”

Yolei turned to look at him questioningly. “Are you not coming with us?”

Izzy smiled faintly. “Someone has to watch the gate.”

He took a seat at the chair and looked up when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

“I could stay with you if you’d like me to,” Tai softly smiled.

“I’ll be fine, go and have some fun.”

Squeezing Tai’s hand he smiled gently at the older boy.

Tai nodded as David activated the gate eagerly and the group left to the Digiworld with barely a goodbye.

Tai turned to send Izzy one last apologetic smile before leaving too.

Sighing Izzy leaned back in his chair, opening a few programs on the laptop he’d brought with him, knowing he’d be there all afternoon....

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Entering the Digital world the Digidestined saw their Digimon already waiting for them and happily hugged them.

“How did you know we’d be here today?” Ken laughed as he held Wormmon close.

“Izzy asked Gennai to warn us so we could surprise you!” Wormmon happily exclaimed.

Accepting the kind gesture they chatted comfortable while they searched for a nice picnic spot and once found they make quick word of readying everything.

Soon conversations were started and they were all laughing and having joy.

“Too bad that Izzy and Tentomon are not with us today, they are missing all the fun,” T.K. stated.

Tai’s smile dimmed and he looked at his feet. “Maybe he did want to join but wasn’t able to.”

Matt looked at him confused. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t he be able to come with us?”

Tai turned to look at him and Matt could detect the sad expression his friend was trying to hide.

The others all noticed the change of moods within Tai and fell quiet as they joined the conversation.

“Why didn’t he come?” Sora asked softly.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think Izzy has join us at all lately,” Cody stated thoughtful.

Tai’s gaze hardened. “That is something between Izzy and Gennai.”

His warning glare was enough to make the others drop it and return to their own conversations with a shrug, but Matt and Joe shared a glance, knowing Tai knew more than he was telling.

But they didn’t open their mouth, if Tai thought it wasn’t his place to say then they wouldn’t force him.

Soon the happy and light mood returned and they forgot all about Izzy again. They took a swim and played around.

It was late in the afternoon when they were finally getting ready to leave but three balls of lightning flying over made them look up.

With a blinding light the balls crashed on four different locations.

“What was that!” Mimi shrieked.

“No idea, but there were more than one,” Davis stated unnecessary. 

“Let’s check it out,” Tai suggested and the others quickly rose as well.

“It would be smarter to split up if we want to check them all,” Matt said logically.

Tai nodded. “Right, Mimi, Sora, you two check out the one by the woods. Kari, T.K., Cody and Yolei, the four of you check the one that crashed by the river. Davis, Ken the mountain one’s yours. You two are with me, we’ll check the village. Make sure you check in with the rest of us regularly,” he ordered with a nod to Matt and Joe.

They split up without another word as Tai send a message to Izzy to inform him what was going on.

‘All right, be careful and watch your back. Izzy.

Closing the other programs he’d been working on Izzy typed rapidly into his computer to track the crash sites so that he could easily tell where everyone went in case they needed help.

Sitting back he sighed as once more all he could do was wait.......

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Smiling Tai put his communicator away. He and the other two older Digidestined hurried to the little village, only to find the small Bukamon town was completely destroyed.

“Do you think....” Gomamon whispered scared.

“I don’t think so, we didn’t see any Bukamon on the way here,” Joe looked at the crater in the middle of the village. “They wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“They were so young and peaceful...what could have done this?” Gomamon forced down a sob.

“I have a feeling it has something to do with that big white ball laying there,” Joe said as he patted his friend’s back softly in comfort.

Carefully they made their way to the strange ball, but when Tai moved to take a closer look an alarm suddenly wailed loudly and they immediately covered their ears to drown out the sound.

“What’s happening!” Matt screamed over the noise as the ball started to break and the ground began to shake.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the meantime Sora and Mimi had reached the woods and saw a crater not unlike the one the others had found.

“Whatever hit the ground here was pretty strong, everything’s destroyed,” Sora said breathlessly as she looked around.

“Let’s be careful on our way down,” Mimi suggested as they moved closer to the ball to investigate it, stopping when a distant screeching alarm reached their ears.

“Where does that come from?” Sora asked surprised.

“I think it comes from the river,” Mimi stated as she looked towards the water. “It seems to be echoing from there.”

“Mimi...you hang around Izzy to much,” Sora laughed before her eyes widened when the ground underneath them began to shake. 

“What’s going on!” she yelled, covering her ears as the same screeching noise now appeared to come out of the big ball before them.

Mimi turned towards her when she saw four figures running towards them.

“Mimi, Sora, get out of there!” Yolei screamed in panic.

“What?” Sora yelled back confused as the brown haired girl ran into the crater and pulled both confused girls with her.

“We found a big white ball, but as we moved closer to investigate it we heard the same noise. Out of it came Digimon, strong, enormous Digimon. They whipped the ground with our Digimon,” Kari answered while they continued running.

“We need to warn the others!” T.K. yelled to be heard over the noise and they immediately ran towards the village to alert Tai, Matt and Joe, but before they could get anywhere several flying Digimon blocked their path.

“You are not going anywhere until we have what we want,” one of the birdlike Digimon said with an evil smile.

The Digidestined let their Digimon Digivolve and the battle began.....

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Davis and Ken were halfway to their assigned crater when they heard battle sounds.

“We need to turn around!” Davis alerted Ken, knowing the sounds could only mean that their friends were in danger.

Ken immediately agreed but suddenly seven large Digimon blocked their path and Davis backed away to stand beside Ken.

“Where is Faith,” one of the Digimon growled.

“What do you want!” Ken asked through clenched teeth.

"We want the power of Faith. Where is Faith.”

“Faith? Who’s Faith?” Davis asked confused but the Digimon, not happy with his answer suddenly attacked.

“The Digidestined of Faith is with you, give us the power of Faith!”

A hail of sharp needles rained down on the two boy’s as Wormmon was slammed into a tree with full force.

Arukenimon and Mummymon appeared on the scene, laughing as they saw the two Digidestined in trouble.

“Faith’s power will be ours!” Veemon didn’t have the time to throw an attack at them as he tried his hardest to keep their human partners from being hurt.

Ken grabbed a stick, slamming it into the softer underbelly of the insect like Digimon when one came near.

Glancing up he saw the other Digidestined in the distance and in the same trouble they were, their Digimon no match for the much stronger insects either.

They weren’t in any position to help them and making a decision he grabbed his communicator, typing a message rapidly to call for help.

Xxxxxxxx

Izzy clicked his tongue as he wondered why they had all stopped before he got a message. Pulling out his communicator again he frowned as he saw the message.

‘Need help immediately! Ken’

Blankly Izzy stared at the communicator for a long moment while conversations from earlier flashed through his mind.

“Do not go to the Digital world no matter what Izzy, it is too dangerous.”

“Why not? I don’t understand Gennai.”

“I can’t tell you yet, just don’t go to the Digiworld, no matter what.”

“If he says you can’t go then he probably has a good reason, even if he won’t tell us. Please stay here.”

“I will Tai, .....I promise.”

Izzy sighed, shaking his head to pull himself out of the memory before grabbing the communicator and his Digivice. 

“Digigate...open!” A sudden warm feeling reached him as he was pulled into the gate, like he was going home.

Ken heard his communicator beep and looked at it quickly in between swings.

‘On my way, hold on. Izzy’

“Izzy’s on his way! We need to keep standing until he can reach us.”

Davis turned to him in disbelief. “What on earth can Izzy do for us?”

Ken shrugged. “He’s the only one who answered and right now I don’t care who’s coming as long as someone is.”

He called Wormmon’s name when he saw Mega Kabuterimon flying towards them to alert him of the help. 

He didn’t know what Izzy could do for them, but at least someone was coming.

TBC


	2. chapter 2

Izzy reached the Digiworld at the same time that Tentomon reached the gate.

“Izzy, the others are in trouble.”

“I know, Ken warned me.”

With a nod the small bug Digimon digivolved into Kabuterimon and Izzy climbed onto his back, glancing at his Digivice to track the others.

“Who do you want to go help?” Kabuterimon yelled at him.

“Ken and Davis, the others are close enough together to help each other out.”

Kabuterimon nodded, shooting off his first attack the moment he came in range and Izzy jumped off his back, running to Ken and Davis.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. I’m glad you’re here,” Ken sighed relieved.

Izzy smiled hesitant. “Say that again when Tai realizes I am here.”

He looked at his friends and then to the Digimon.

“Any idea what we’re dealing with?” Davis asked as he moved closer.

“Bijtmemon. Mega Bijtmemon actually. Their needle attack is brutal but they have a small weak spot in their armor on the side,” Izzy warned him, ducking when one flew over low but being knocked off his feet when Wormmon was knocked into them.

Immediately they scrambled to their feet and Ken glanced at the others. They were slowly winning territory towards them but he didn’t think they’d make it on time.

Arukenimon turned to them all of a sudden and laughed as she spotted Izzy.

“The child of Knowledge finally shows himself again,” she clapped in her hands and from out of nowhere hundreds of Digimon appeared around them, surrounding them and blocking them from the others.

Davis gasped.

“Where did those come from!”

Ken turned to Izzy for an answer but the redhead looked horrified at the Digimon surrounding them.

Arukenimon reached up with her hand to give the sign to attack but Kabuterimon flew up to Izzy to protect his partner.

“Electro Shocker!”

All the Bijtmemon did was laugh as the electric attack crashed into them.

“You will have to do better than that ant!” One of them mocked.

“Needlethrow!” the combined attack of the entire Bijtmemon force slammed into Kabuterimon, throwing him into the depths of the woods unconscious. 

The other Digimon and Digidestined had no time to react before the Bijtmemon attacked them….

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kari was concentrating on fighting when her gaze fell upon Kabuterimon.

“When did Izzy get here?” she asked confused.

“Who cares? At least he can help!” T.K. answered her as Angemon punched a Digimon away from his partner.

Thinking they could finally catch a breath they suddenly saw the hundreds of Digimon surround the three and knew they had to hurry up.

Kari called out her light to give their Digimon some more strength and slowly they made their way over to the other three, fighting their way through the wall of Bijtmemon.

When they finally reached them they fought against the Bijtmemon together, but were steadily losing territory until Tai, Matt and Joe suddenly appeared out of nowhere….


	3. chapter 3

Matt clenched his ears shut at the noise surrounding them. “It’s unbearable!” 

Tai managed to look up enough to see seven large Digimon jump out of the while ball.

“Guy’s! We are under attack!”

He let Agumon Digivolve and so did the other two.

With little difficulty they defeated them and came to the conclusion that the others would probably be under attack as well and ran to aid them.

Coming close Tai suddenly spotted Izzy beside Ken and felt his heart clench.

What the hell was he doing here.

“Damn!” Tai took a sprint and ran right passed the surprised Bijtmemon, who did nothing to attack him and stopped in front of Izzy.

“Tai…I,” scared black eyes met his own brown gaze and Tai swallowed.

“Give me the strength,” he whispered as he grabbed Izzy’s hand and pulled him closer.

Izzy’s eyes widened slightly before a golden glow fell over them and he closed his fingers around Tai’s.

A powerful red shield appeared in front of them, clearing a path right to the closest gate.

Everyone looked around confused as the Bijtmemon were forced backwards and the Digidestined and their Digimon were surrounded by the shield.

“What the hell?” Matt turned to Tai and Izzy, to see the younger boy stare at Tai with a strange glow in his eyes but Tai moved his attention from Izzy to him and Joe.

“Matt, Joe, take the others to the gate.”

Joe turned to look at him confused.

“Now!”

Tai wrapped an arm around Izzy’s waist, the younger boy motionless except for his wide eyes.

Blinking Matt and Joe both broke out of their shock.

“Come on guy’s, before the shield collapses!”

Matt and Joe forced the confused others to run with them towards the gate.

Tai looked back into Izzy’s eyes until the black eyes met his and moved the hand he was holding close to his heart.

Izzy looked up at him guilty. “I’m sorry Tai.”

Tai placed a finger on Izzy’s lips.

“We’ll talk about it later Iz. Right now the only thing that matters is to get you into safety before the shield collapses.”

Tears appeared in the dark eyes as he nodded and tightened his grip on Tai’s hand.

Tightening his grip Tai pulled him with him as they ran after the others, the shield collapsing behind them.

Matt and Joe led the last few of them through the gate when they turned just in time to see Tai and Izzy running half a mile behind them.

“They will never make it!”

“They will have to!” Matt pushed Joe inside before he could argue and waved at Tai to motion him to hurry up, but Tai was hit from behind and lost his balance, pulling Izzy down with him as he fell.

“Oh no,” Matt whispered, leaving the gate without a second thought to run back to them.

“Tai get up!” Izzy was pulling on Tai’s arm but Tai couldn’t lift himself upright and Izzy wasn’t nowhere near strong enough to pull him up by himself.

Matt reached them and grabbed Tai’s other arm and together they managed to pull him to his feet.

“He’s out of it, he can’t walk,” Matt worriedly stated.

Izzy took one look at Tai before glancing at the collapsing shield before he turned his gaze to Matt.

“Take him to the gate, I’ll keep them away as long as I can.”

“No!...don’t…I…leave me…” Tai managed to say between rapid breaths as he tried to break out of Matt’s grip to stop Izzy.

Izzy smiled sadly and placed a hand on Tai’s cheek to make him look at him.

“I’m the reason they are here. I can’t let them hurt you,” his eyes shifted to Matt’s.

“Promise me you’ll keep him safe Matt.”

Confused Matt swallowed as he nodded. He had no idea what Izzy could possible do to get them out of there since Tentomon was out but he nodded anyway.

“I promise…Izzy…you …how…”

Izzy shook his head and turned his gaze back to Tai, tears appearing in his eyes as he turned away from them.

“Bring him into safety Matt,” he ordered and Matt nodded again, seeing the determination in Izzy’s black eyes and didn’t argue further.

“Be careful. I’ll come help you as soon as I get him into safety,” he swore as he began to pull Tai with him towards the gate.

Izzy looked at the Digimon that stopped in front of him as the shield collapsed further.

“You’re not getting them,” Izzy swore and the Bijtmemon laughed.

“We want you Faith…and we will get you and once we’ve got you we will kill all your precious little friends, just because we can.”

Izzy looked back at his two friends and a golden glow appeared in his eyes again.

“I cannot let you hurt the ones I care for.” 

A stream of red light surrounded Izzy as the Digimon attacked but they couldn’t pass the red light.

They were thrown backwards when they hit the shield but didn’t stop as cries of pain erupted from them.

Throwing themselves over and over again at the shield, Izzy had trouble blocking them and he dared a glance towards the gate to see Matt and Tai had reached it.

With a nod he released the shield a few moments later when the Bijtmemon were thrown backwards again and ran to the gate, followed by the angry group of Bijtmemon….

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Mat let out an annoyed breath as he pulled Tai with him while the other tried to struggle.

“Please…leave me, you have to help Izzy.”

“Sorry buddy I can’t. I promised Iz that I would keep you safe,” he shifted Tai’s weight a bit more on his shoulder.

For such a thin boy he sure was heavy and his struggling wasn’t helping much.

"Please Matt...you don't know…you…. you don't…"

Breaking into sobs he let himself be dragged along as he was unable to walk on his own well enough to struggle.

Matt ignored his further pleas, not daring to stop or turn around to look at their younger friend in case he’d be tempted to turn around.

Reaching the gate he finally dared to turn around and blinked surprised as he saw a red light surround the boy.

“Izzy’s using that…is that what they are looking for?” He asked himself as he saw the Digimon didn’t pay them any attention but attacked Izzy with full force.

A small sound had Matt turn his attention to the gate and his eyes widened as he saw the gate was closing.

He looked back at Izzy, who was now running towards them as fast as he could.

“Izzy! The gate is closing!” he screamed as Izzy ducked an attack by one of the Bijtmemon.

“What do they want Izzy so badly? I don’t understand.”

He began to move back to run to Izzy and leave Tai at the gate as the other began to regain some of his strength when a piece of the forest exploded near Izzy.

He was thrown side wards by the explosion and landed bodily onto the ground.

He didn’t hesitate to immediately begin to run back, gate closing or not when Izzy’s eyes flashes, visible even from this distance and he and Tai were bodily thrown into the gate as it closed.

Tai screamed Izzy’s name but they were unable to do anything else but close their eyes against the blinding light as the portal forced them through and they lost sight of Izzy.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Tai hit the hard ground, immediately shifting and turning so that he could reach the computer.

“Open the gate, Izzy’s still in there!”

T.K. shot him an apologetic glance.

“We can’t. The gate closed behind us and it turned into a one way. We tried to open it but our Digivices won’t let us open it.”

Tai stared at the gate, fumbling for his Digivice as he refused to listen to the blond’s words.

“Digigate open!”

Nothing happened and Tai repeated his command repeatedly as tears jumped in his eyes.

“Oh god, Izzy…Gate open!...please…please….please open!”

Matt placed a hand on Tai’s back as he broke down into sobs before he looked at the computer screen which only gave a closed gate.

“He was hurt and they were after him, not us,” he wasn’t really asking, even as he turned a questioningly gaze back to their sobbing leader.

“What was going on, why did they want Izzy so badly?” 

Tai looked from the screen to Matt, teary brown eyes locking on his own blue ones and he sighed.

“Because Izzy has powers that none of us has,” he admitted slowly.

Ken frowned before his eyes widened in realization.

“Faith…the power of Faith…Izzy is..”

“The Digidestined of Faith…yeah,” Tai confirmed.

Everyone looked at Tai in shock.

“There…there is another Digidestined? Why didn’t you tell us?” Yolei shrieked.

Tai sat down on a chair and pulled his hand through his hair in raw anger.

“Because Gennai said it would be too dangerous. Every dark Digimon would want Izzy’s powers, the power of the Digidestined of Faith. He said it would be too dangerous to tell you guy’s and I believed him!” he snarled the last bit as he knocked on of the work computers from the desk in anger and despair.

Ken paled. “I…I called him. It’s my fault he came to the Digital World.”

Davis put a hand on his shoulders as silent tears started to form in Ken’s eyes.

“You didn’t know. He should have told us, then you never would have called him.”

He turned his accusing gaze to Tai but the older boy just closed his eyes before grimacing and turning to the door.

“Tai, where are you going?” Kari asked quietly.

“I need to find a way to get Izzy back, there has to be a way.”

His gaze fell on the laptop Izzy had left behind and he quickly gathered it, holding it against him as he walked out of the computer room, leaving the others alone.

Joe sighed as he moved to the door too. “Tai is right, there has to be a way…there just has to be,” he said softly, determination in his eyes.

“We’ll find it Joe. We won’t rest until Izzy’s back here.”

They both left the computer room as well and the others looked at one another.

“Do you think Biyomon and the others will be all right?” Sora asked softly and Mimi turned to the screen. They will be a lot more mobile without us slowing them down. Besides, you heard Matt, they were after Izzy. I doubt they’ll concern themselves with our Digimon.”

They all looked at each other silently, knowing Izzy was probably all alone in the Digital World and not knowing if he was still alive or not…


	4. chapter 4

Ten years later

A young man walked past the graves to one lonely grave near the end of the cemetery.

A soft wind blew and lifted some of his bangs into his eyes, but the young man didn´t pay attention to the strands of hair as his brown eyes were fixed onto the small grave he was approaching.

His brown eyes were clouded in sadness and such pain that it was a miracle no tears were shimmering in them.

A trembling hand was lifted and gently traced the letters written on the tombstone for eternity.

The other hand took out a red rose and pulled the steed leaves off to let them fall into the letters.

It was like the earth around the tombstone lived up, many kind of flowers surrounding the stone like they wished to protect the one who should lay there.

The brown-haired man looked up as different kind of animals found their way their way towards him.

He knew they were coming to visit their missing friend too.

His love loved animals and flowers, was good for them and now they were good for him, even if they didn’t know where he was.

Beauty searched for beauty.

Ten years ago, that’s when his world had tumbled down.

When Izzy had been locked into the Digital World.

They had tried to search for their lost friend, but the Digiworld refused to give them access any longer.

After five years their friend was pronounced death and this grave made.

A body was never found, but that not matter to the government.

He could still see the reactions of Izzy’s parents when the police told them that there was nothing they could do and their only child was unlikely to ever return home again.

The others of their little group all reacted differently. Ken, Davis, Sora and Mimi just went on with their lives.

T.K., Yolei and Cody all missed him but had moved on as well.

Kari and Matt were still upset like him, but even they had eventually let go.

Joe stopped caring and lost his interest in medicine and studying. He was like a lost puppy, waiting for his friend to come and take him home.

He himself had stopped living the moment that gate had closed, the moment he had lost Izzy.

After a while their group had fallen apart, all of them leaving in smaller groups or on their own.

He had been their heart and soul, the anchor that held them together.

Even if they had never truly noticed.

But he knew that Izzy still had to be alive and he would never stop searching and hoping for his return.

Brushing his hands on the side of his pants he rose from his crouched position and walked back the way he had come.

At the beginning of the path he turned once more before sighing and walking away again.

‘Here lies Koushiro “Izzy” Izumi. Beloved son and friend.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Matt’s P.O.V.

Ten years had gone by and he just forced to keep himself going.

Not trying to give a darn and just go on with his life.

Like most of the others did.

What could he do about it anyway, not much...except to not lose hope.

Although he knew very well that no matter what he did he wouldn’t be able to get him back.

But he would never give up, he had sworn to help him and he had failed.

Not for himself, not even for the others, but for Tai.

He had never known and probably never would have found out if there hadn’t been a big grey flag shoved into his face.

He was surprised about the fact that he’d never seemed to realise what was going on with the ones closest to him, until something happened.

Only now did he truly know it had been Izzy who had kept them grounded together all this time.

He had never known how much one person was capable of doing for so many people.

Izzy had done a lot of good in his young life; even if all Matt had ever thought him to do was sit behind his computer screen all day long.

He would never have guessed that the same computer nerd he thought he knew so well was also a big animal lover.

Or that he had special powers that only Gennai and Tai had known about, and refused to talk about.

Which made him think that the boy wasn’t dead, but captured by Arukenimon for her personal gain.

But all he had was this theory and that was worthless to the police, for if he would ever reveal everything about the Digiworld, then he’d only be locked up.

So he held up a mask for the others, while inside he cried for the life lost.

Sora's pov

She didn’t like thinking about it, not even for a second for she knew that if she let him into her thoughts she’d lose her sanity.

She saw what his loss did to Tai and Joe and she didn’t want to go through the same thing, knowing she’d be unable to handle it.

Those two boys were in so much pain that it stopped their functioning.

She had worked too hard to get the life she had no to lose it, she couldn’t afford it.

She just pushed it all down, knowing the others were ripping apart inside.

She’d just push it down, no matter what, it wouldn’t get to her.

Ken's pov

He felt like he hadn’t a right to cry as most of the others, for he hadn’t known him well.

The short times they had truly spent time together was when Arukenimon and Mummymon had captured them all, and even that period was a gigantic blur to him.

He knew all the others from their many adventures in the Digital World, but Izzy never joined them.

He supported them from the outside, guarding the gate for them and having their backs so he could send out help when needed.

He hadn’t questioned why he never came with them until it was too late.

It was his fault Izzy was gone.

If he hadn’t called for help then Izzy wouldn’t have been forced to come and nothing would have happened.

But even as that flashed through his mind, a small voice informed him he couldn’t have prevented it.

At some point they would have found him anyway, no matter what.

And he had to keep that in mind, for he had no right to cry.

Mimi's pov

She did not cry, at least not in public.

Only in the shadow of the night when no one could hear her she would allow herself to cry her heart out.

She shouldn’t care, after all she and Izzy had never actually been very good friends.

She hated how the boy could ignore her so thoroughly when absorbed in his computer.

She had never known that he was so much more than an ordinary computer nerd.

She also never knew about Tai and Izzy's 'bond'

First she had thought it was because she lived in America.

But she realised soon after that almost none of the others really knew Izzy either even if they saw each other so often.

Only Joe and Tai had been close enough to know him well, to know the real Izzy.

It made her wonder how they could still breathe.

She didn't want to feel the pain they had felt when they had lost him, which they were still feeling and ignored everything on her pad blocking out every single emotion that made her think of him.

She just went on losing hope and continued life like in a shadow.

T.K's pov

He wouldn't cry, he wouldn't, couldn't.

He had to be strong for Kari and Cody, to be able to dry their tears.

He didn't want to think about him, about the friend they had lost.

The pain was so great and he had to be strong.

Strong for those who were in more pain than him.

He shouldn't be allowed to cry.

For he hadn't known Izzy the way they had known him.

He had only seen a computer nerd, like most of the others.

Not the person he was in reality.

He had only seen the mask that the redhead had shown to them.

Joe's pov

The pain was so strong he thought his heart was going to be torn apart.

But there was no mercy like that.

He couldn't believe he wasn't there anymore.

It just seemed so unreal.

He shouldn't have been there in the first place.

He knew that there was a reason why Izzy never went with them to the Digiworld.

But he would never have guessed that the evil Digimon would want him so badly that they would try to kill everybody else just to lure him out.

He knew that his friend was still alive, somehow he just knew.

Sometimes at night he could hear him calling out to Tai.

Asking for help and forgiveness.

Forgiveness for not listening to him.

He called out to them and no matter what happened he was not letting his friend down.

He and Tai both knew Izzy was alive and they wouldn't rest till they had found him.

Cody's pov

It hurt to think about it.

It was so easy to blame Ken for all that had happened but deep inside he knew that if Ken hadn't called for Izzy they would have found another way to get what they wanted.

The Digidestined of Faith.

Only after he disappeared had they found out what Tai and Izzy were hiding from them.

For the protection of Izzy they didn't tell them, but still.

If they had known then Ken would have never called for Izzy to help them.

He missed the older boy so much.

It was like after losing his father he also lost his big brother.

Kari' pov

She wanted to grieve, she really did but somehow she couldn't get herself to believe that he was really gone.

It couldn't be.

Sometimes late at night she could feel Izzy calling out for help to her brother.

His pleads were so full of fear and pain.

Pleads that sounded like a broken record, like he wasn't even aware anymore that he cried out to her brother.

Calling her brother’s name over and over again like he did not have the strength to say anything more.

He asked for forgiveness sometimes.

Forgiveness for not listening to him, for disappointing him.

She would go to Tai's room on those nights and listen to the sound of Izzy's voice she could somehow hear.

For she knew that as long as she heard his voice he was still alive somewhere and there was still hope.

Davis' pov

He felt bad.

So bad.

He didn't understand the way everybody felt.

How he felt.

He didn't like this feeling at all but he had no way to get away from it.

He knew some of the others still believed that he was alive.

Somewhere trapped but still alive.

He didn't understand how one person could mean so much too so many people.

For all he knew was that the redhead was just a boy like them.

Why did they want him so badly?

What power did he have that was so different from theirs?

Why…why was he so special?

He didn't know and he hated not to know how to help the ones he cared for.

He hated that he did not know how to help himself.

Yolei's pov

Why…why had it happened?

Why to someone she cared for.

Why not to some stranger, why not to her instead of him.

She knew it was foolish to think that way but she couldn't stop herself.

She continued to live but felt so lonely.

She had never known how much that one boy meant to her.

How much he had actually taught her while she never even realised.

How much faith he had given her in herself.

He was her best friend she knew now.

She lost her best friend and she didn't like it at all

Tai's pov

He did not know what to do with his live now that his love had been taken away from him.

He never even knew how close Joe and Izzy really were until this happened.

He never knew how much Izzy meant to all of them before this happened.

He never knew how much he truly loved the young redhead.

Or that he and Kari were such good friends.

But what he did know was he was still out there somewhere...alive.

At night he could see Izzy calling out to him in his dreams.

He would always run to reach his friend but would never make it.

He'd always be further away than he could run.

In daytime he could sometimes hear Izzy's voice calling his name too.

Izzy's pleads kept him going, the knowledge that he was still alive kept him going; to search for him was his only goal.

Never would he rest until he had found him.

No matter what happened he wouldn't give up.


	5. Chapter 5

"Tai...please Tai…...I'm so sorry Tai."

Tai turned around in his sleep.

"Izzy...where are you. Please tell me where you are."

A young man with short red hair appeared a few feet away.

He had his hands in front of his chest folded like he was praying and looked up at Tai with teary dull eyes.

"Spiral Mountain...Tai...please stay away from here. It's not safe, please Tai... stay away."

He fell quiet and Tai could feel tears coming up in his eyes.

"Why don't you want me on Spiral Mountain? Are you trying to protect me from something bad? I don't understand."

Izzy turned around, seemingly hearing something that Tai couldn´t, a scared expression on his face.

Tai reached out, but Izzy disappeared before he could get an answer.

Waking up while screaming Izzy´s name, he fell of the bed and Kari came running into his run, sitting down on the edge of his bed when Tai pulled himself up.

“Did you see Izzy again?”

“Yeah. He’s asking me to stay away from Spiral Mountain.”

“You think they are holding him there?” Kari looked up to see tears in her brother’s brown eyes.

“I don’t know, I really don’t. Why wouldn’t Izzy want us to come and save him if he knows we would be able to?” Tai closed his eyes to blink away the tears.

“We should go there. What if Izzy truly is there? I don’t want to leave him there all alone when we might actually know where he is now.”

“And how do you think we do that? Digiworld isn’t open for us remember? It hasn’t been for a long time now.”

“Can’t you ask Izzy to open the gate for you? I mean, in your dream. I’m sure he can hear you even if he doesn’t appear himself.”

Tai blinked away his tears with a small nod, letting Kari guide him back into bed.

“Why would he open the gate if he doesn’t want us to save him?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t not try.”

Obeying her, Tai closed his eyes and tried to relax.

When he opened his eyes to darkness he knew he’d dozed off again and he immediately looked around in the hopes of seeing Izzy again.

“Iz? Can you hear me, are you there?”

He didn’t get a reaction but wasn’t surprised. In the beginning he’d tried to force himself back to sleep in the hopes of seeing Izzy longer, but the boy didn’t always appear and never when Tai wanted him to.

“If you can hear me....please open the gate for me, please. Our Digivices can’t open the gates so you have to open it from the inside. Please open it, Izzy.”

He kept repeating that mantra until he woke up again to find Kari staring at him.

Shaking his head he sighed. “He wasn’t there. I talked to him but I don’t know if he heard me.”

“Let’s check then.”

She rose to her feet and walked to the computer, grumbling irritated as the old thing took it’s time to start up. 

“Come on slowpoke!” impatiently she ruffled her fingers on the table, sighing when it showed a closed gate when it was finished.

“Maybe he needs a little time,” she suggested as Tai sat down beside her.

Both stared at that horrible little red square in the middle of the screen for a while until Kari picked up her Digivice.

“Maybe....Digigate....open,” nothing happened and Tai shot her a tearful glance.

“Maybe it only works for older devices? Who knows if Izzy remembers the D-3’s?” she refused to give up now that they finally had a lead where he might be.

Sighing Tai picked up his Digivice and held it up.

A small ting was heard and the red square suddenly turned green and they gasped surprised.

“Kari...the gate....”

“I knew it!” Kari hugged her brother enthusiastically. 

“You were right sis....I’m going to get Matt and Joe and then we’ll go!”

“Yes, it would be wiser to take only a few so you can travel undetected. I’ll stay here as back up and warn the others should you run into trouble,” Kari nodded, both of them getting dressed quickly while Tai called Joe and Matt.

Both immediately came to his house despite the late hour.

“What’s going on?” Matt asked when they stepped inside.

“We might know where Izzy is.”

“He spoke to you again?” Joe asked with tired blue eyes.

“Yeah. He’s asking me to stay away from Spiral Mountain so Kari thinks that is where they are holding him.”

Matt and Joe stared a look and then Matt smiled as he noticed the open gate.

“It is worth checking it out if you have been able to open the gate.”

“Be careful and bring him home,” Tai nodded at his sister’s request and the three males quickly made their way into the Digiworld and to Spiral Mountain as quickly and quietly as they could without their Digimon.

Coming near enough to actually see the mountain they hid behind some rocks and were horrified to see everything was on fire.

“It looks like the entire mountain is surrounded in it. How do you think we can get passed that without being noticed or grilled into Digi toast?” Matt asked.

“I don’t know, but Izzy’s there. I can hear his voice again and he’s telling us to go away.”

“Us? He knows we are here?” Matt frowned.

Tai nodded and Joe pushed up his glasses. “If he’s really here then I refuse to leave without him and if he knows we are here he wouldn’t let any harm come to us.”

Rising to his feet he walked towards the flames without any hesitation and walked straight through them. From the other side they could hear him call out to them.

“Come on, we’re losing time!”

Sharing a surprised glance, both Tai and Matt hurried after him. 

“Did you notice that Joe is a lot more confident right now than ever before?” Matt asked, holding his breath as they walked through the flames, surprised that they didn’t even hurt them.

“He just wants to find Izzy as badly as we do,” Tai rubbed his temple.

“Is he still calling out to you?” Matt informed as he noticed.

“Yeah, but weakly. It is like he doesn’t have any strength left anymore. His voice is so full of pain and despair right now,” tears slipped down Tai’s face and Matt squeezed his shoulder.

“We are going to get him back, I promise. None of us will rest until he’s back where he belongs.”

“Yeah. I wish he knew how much I loved him, though. Maybe it would give him strength to hold on.”

“He knows.”

Both Matt and Tai looked up to Joe, who sighed. 

“Izzy’s an empath, remember? You may be able to hide on the outside how you feel, but Izzy still knows. And I know that he knows how much you love him. Just as much as he loves you.”

“He told you that?” Tai asked hopeful.

“He didn’t have to; I could see it in his eyes whenever the two of you spoke.”

“And the way you always helped each other, from the moment we first arrived in Digiworld at summer camp all those years ago,” Matt added with a smile.

Shooting them a thankful smile, Tai moved forward with new determination.

“Let’s get back our friend.”

Smiling at Joe, Matt followed their leader, hopeful for the first time in a long time that they’d find Izzy.

Walking around the mountain Tai spotted a small entry underneath a small rock and ducked through, the others following him quietly.

Quietly they made their way inside and hid behind some rocks as they spotted several Digimon coming by, holding their breath as two Gazimon conversed together while passing by.

“Why are we the ones that have to feed the brat all the time?”

“Let’s just say we gave him food, they aren’t going to notice. They never do.”

“No, we have to. They are finally making progress and Arukenimon won’t be happy if we lose that now.”

“They broke down several of his shields today; the power of Faith will be ours now any day.”

“You mean Arukenimon’s.”

“Yes, I meant that,” the second Gazimon correctly quickly as they disappeared around the corner.

“Let’s follow them,” Matt whispered as Tai and Joe seemed shell shocked for a long moment, following him quickly as he slipped out from behind the rocks.

They hid behind various rocks whenever the Gazimon slowed but eventually they reached the dark centre of the mountain. Everything felt cold and the Digidestined couldn’t help but shiver.

“It’s so cold, how can they survive here?” Joe asked, rubbing his arms.

"I don't think they have to,” Matt admitted with tears in his eyes, pointing to where the Gazimon had stopped and slid open a hidden door before entering.

The door closed behind them and Matt pulled Tai back down when he made to follow them.

“Let’s wait until they come back. We don’t know how much space there is behind that door or what is in there.”

“Right.”

An hour passed before the door suddenly slid open again and the two Gazimon reappeared, one of them carrying a bloodied whip that made all of their stomach’s hurl.

Matt had to keep a firm hold on both Joe and Tai to keep them hidden until the Gazimon had disappeared back the way they came from before they came out of their hiding place.

Joe hurried forward to slide open the door, revealing total darkness behind it.

“I can’t see a thing, it is much too dark,” Matt whispered uncertainly.

Tai glanced at him before he walked straight into the darkness, ignoring Matt’s whispering call, Joe close behind him.

Izzy was there, he knew it and he wasn’t going to let them hurt him anymore, not if he could help it.

Matt cursed and followed them, the door sliding shut again behind them, leaving them in complete darkness.

They paused long enough for their eyes to adjust to the darkness a little before moving on, seeing a long hallway.

Walking down it, it didn’t take long before they reached a corner and Matt glanced around it to see a small cave. On the wall two or three torches hung and they all gasped in shock as they realised there was a young man chained to the wall with heavy black chains.

Even in the dark Matt could see various wounds in different states of healing visible through the torn clothes and what had once been bright flaming red hair was now dull.

“Izzy,” Tai reached out to touch him but Matt pulled him back.

“Don’t....you don’t know if that is truly him or a trap.”

Joe stepped around them to look at the young man closely, no reaction to their voices as his eyes remained closed.

“Let him go,” surprised Matt blinked at the certainty in Joe’s voice and let go of Tai’s wrist, the other immediately stepping forward.

Carefully reaching out, he touched the younger man’s cheek, like he didn’t believe he was truly seeing what he did.

As soon as his fingers touched the dirty skin, dull eyes as black as the night flew open to look at him.

Tai’s eyes filled with tears again as he softly stroked the hair out of the younger man’s face.

“Hey Izzy,” he whispered as Izzy stared at him, seemingly looking into Tai’s soul. 

But at Tai’s words, tears appeared in his eyes.

“Tai?” his voice was no more than a pained whisper and it didn’t sound at all like Matt or Joe knew Izzy to sound like, all hoarsely and raw.

But Tai smiled softly, tears spilling down as he let his hand slide from his face to his neck, cupping his cheek carefully.

“We need to get you out of here,” he whispered as he looked at the chains and Joe and Matt took that as their cue to start pulling on them.

Izzy choked on a scream at their movements and they dropped them in shock, terrified to hurt him further.

“We need to find something to break them with,” Joe looked around and spotted a small heavy stick that he immediately retrieved.

“This should do. Tai, hold him still so that he won’t move away from our touch.”

Tai nodded, placing his hands onto Izzy’s shoulders carefully. “They won’t hurt you, they just want to get you lose before someone comes back.”

Dull eyes shifted back to him before he closed them with a small nod, body tensing as he tried to keep still.

Matt placed the stick through the ring that held the chains and started pulling against it.

Slowly the ring came loose and with a last bit of effort it fell down, releasing Izzy from the wall.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as the chains broke free, Tai grabbed Izzy steadier so he wouldn´t fall as it was easy to see he couldn´t support himself.

Opening his eyes, Izzy shifted unsteadily until he was supporting his own slight weight a little.

He looked up at the faces of people he hadn´t seen for so long.

“We need to get away from her as soon as possible.” 

Joe whispered as he and Matt lowered the chains to the ground and Tai made quick work of removing them from around Izzy’s frame. 

“Hey Iz,” Joe smiled and Izzy stared at him blankly for a long moment before he smiled faintly, but Matt could see that it hardly reached his eyes as he looked tired and broken.

Tai tightened his arms around the smaller boy’s body without speaking and Izzy turned his gaze to him, hesitating for a moment before reaching for Tai’s hand.

Immediately slipping his hand around his, Tai smiled and pulled them both to their feet, allowing Izzy to lean on him until he found his balance.

Pain flashed through Izzy’s eyes, but he didn’t make a sound as he moved to support himself completely.

“We’ll get you out of here,” Tai whispered, getting a tiny smile in return while Joe moved to Izzy’s other side to support him.

It worried Matt for a moment that Izzy had still not spoken, but then he realised that the other’s throat was probably sore.

He watched Joe and Tai help Izzy move through the entrance on the cave, supporting his elbows as they walked before taking up the lead.

When they exited through the cave entrance a loud alarm suddenly went off, Izzy tensing between them.

“We have to get the hell away from here before they find us,” Matt said and they automatically hurried forward. 

But the sudden speed was too fast for Izzy and he tripped, letting go of Tai’s hand so he wouldn’t take him down with him.

Tai immediately kneeled down beside him to help him back up, but saw how tired and weak the other looked, unable to get up on his own again.

“You need to change us,” he whispered as he looked around for something to carry him on before a thought came to him. “Remember when we were playing with Tentomon and Agumon?”

Izzy looked up to him in fear, slowly shaking his head.

Matt had no idea what Tai was talking about but he kept quiet when Joe made no indication of interrupting, waiting quietly as none of them would leave without the quiet redhead.

Tai wrapped an arm around Izzy’s waist to support him as he pulled him back to his feet and kept it there as they moved forward.

“There is no way we’ll make it out of here without some help. Help that we cannot give as our Digimon aren’t with us. We need your help Izzy; they can’t hurt you if they can’t find you, right?”

Frightful eyes nodded slowly and a golden glow came to them as he glanced around nervously.

“What are you talking about?” Matt whispered confused, unable to keep silent longer.

“Keep walking, no matter what happens and follow us,” Tai ordered them, ignoring Matt’s question.

Izzy’s gaze turned to the wall that came up before them and to Matt and Joe’s shock it split before their very eyes, allowing their small group to pass through, closing right behind Joe again like nothing had happened.

They reached another wall and Izzy repeated the same trick, opening every single wall and suddenly they were outside of Spiral Mountain.

Tai abruptly stopped and turned to Izzy. “Now.”

Izzy’s black eyes shined with the golden glow once more as they heard various Digimon in the distance, but Izzy kept his gaze at Tai, not paying attention to anything else and suddenly Matt felt something down his spine.

He panicked for a moment, but it wasn’t hurtful, more like a soft hand was guiding him to the ground and soon the feeling disappeared again.

He looked at the others to ask if they had felt it too when he saw that in their places now stood three small Digimon.

He was pushed forward to run by a Koromon, who also pushed a confused looking Bukamon forward.

“Don’t be scared, guys. I’ll explain later, just follow me for now,” the Koromon with Tai’s voice bounced back to a small Motimon and Matt decided to listen to him, especially with those other Digimon coming closer.

Matt followed them confused, surprised by the fact that he no longer had any arms or legs anymore; he was changed into a Tsunomon.

“Oh...okay,” he somehow wasn’t too surprised anymore by anything that happened in the Digiworld and began to bounce after the others, away from Spiral Mountain and into the surrounding forest.

Entering the forest, they stopped bouncing hurriedly to a normal paced bouncing so they wouldn’t draw attention.

Matt waited almost fifteen minutes to ensure they were safe before turning to Koromon Tai.

“Care to tell me what the hell happened back there?”

The Bukamon looked down at Matt with his black eyes. “I believe Tai asked Izzy to change us into Digimon to allow us to escape undetected.”

Koromon Tai nodded and looked at the little Motimon that stayed close to him.

“So you do have powers?” Matt asked softly and Motimon Izzy nodded, not saying a word.

Quickened footsteps behind them made them fasten their bouncing in an unspoken agreement, hoping the approaching Digimon would pass without incident.

But soon they saw two Gazimon approach them. “You four, what are you doing here?”

“Damn, why don’t we ever catch a streak of luck,” Matt cursed under his breath as they turned to them.

“We heard the chosen children were nearby and wanted to see them, but got lost in the forest.”

Matt had no idea how Joe came up with the lie so fast, but it seemed to work.

Matt saw Izzy shift closer to Tai when their gaze fell upon them, but he didn’t make a sound.

“Gazimon, why are you not searching for Faith?”

The Gazimon jumped at the sudden harsh voice of the female that appeared out of nowhere and Matt’s heart jumped as Arukenimon and Mummymon approached.

“We found these four sniffling around the place,” the Gazimon pushed them forward.

“We weren’t sniffling, we got lost,” Matt said before he could stop himself.

He quietly cursed himself, but Arukenimon actually smiled. “Let us guide them out of these woods then, shall we?”

She began to walk and the Gazimon pushed them to follow her.

Tai kept Izzy close to him and Joe stayed closely at his other side while Matt instinctively moved to walk behind him so he was protected from all sides if they should suddenly decide to attack.

He wondered if they’d have their Digimon’s powers now that they were technically Digimon, but hoped they wouldn’t have to find out.

He didn’t like the way it was going, knowing there was no way she would let them go without a fight if she saw through their disguise. Not when they were without their Digimon as he doubted Izzy would be strong enough to protect them.

He swore mentally again and followed his friends as they approached the edge of the forest and Arukenimon turned to them with an evil smile.

“So, here we are so why don’t you show yourself, little one.”

She moved around them as more Gazimon appeared.

“Can’t we attack them?” 

“No, we cannot take the risk of accidentally killing Faith.”

She stopped in front of Tai and Matt saw her look down with a growing smile.  
Following her gaze his heart clenched as he saw Koromon supporting Motimon, who looked like he was going to faint.

He felt himself grow and shrink again as Izzy did frantic attempts to hold up the spell, too weakened to protect them for much longer.

He’d be a very easy target for the clearly eager Arukenimon, who saw the same fatigue as Matt did.

“Let go, now!” Matt screamed and suddenly they shifted back into their original forms as Izzy was unable to hold it up any longer.

Tai and Joe both tightened their grips on him so they could protect him from attacks and Arukenimon glowed in evil laughter.

“Kill them all, except for Faith,” she ordered.

One of the Gazimon dashed towards Tai when suddenly a blinding white light appeared before them, blinding everyone in the clearing.


	7. Chapter 7

When the light disappeared, they all saw a young woman standing in front of Tai and behind them other Digidestined had appeared too as they all stood around the four protectively.

“Leave my brother alone!”

Kari let Gatomon Digivolve into Angewoman and the others also let their Digimon Digivolve.

The Digimon attacked Arukenimon and her henchmen while the Digidestined lead the four boys away.

The hurried towards the gate when the Gazimon blocked their path.

“Flamedramon; Stingmon DNA Digivolve!” Davis and Ken yelled and their Digimon changed into Paildramon, blocking the Gazimon who seemed so much stronger than normal.

“Why are they so strong?” Cody asked and Joe shrugged as Tai lifted the unconscious Izzy into his arms.

“We’ll worry about that later, we need to get out of here first,” Joe finally replied, taking up the rear as Paildramon opened a path to the gate for them and they all disappeared through it.

When they came back out of the computer where Sora was sitting before, they all turned to Matt and Joe.

“What the hell were you guys doing there all alone!” Davis snapped, but Tai and Joe ignored him as they carefully lowered Izzy onto Tai’s bed.

“My god...Izzy, you found him!” Kari breathed out; brushing passed Davis to kneel beside the bed and the others stared shell shocked as Tai tucked a blanket around Izzy.

“Is he all right?”

“Alive but weak. He had to use his powers to help us escape,” Tai said.

“Oh....my....god,” Yolei whispered as they all made their way to the bed side and looked at the unconscious young man.

“Has he really been alive all these years?”

“How do you know it is truly him?”

Cody shrugged at Ken’s question, a frown appearing on his face.

“It is him, I know it is.”

“How can you tell?” Davis asked, anger having vaporised.

“I don’t know, I just do.”

Ken frowned confused, but Joe smiled understandingly. 

“But why did they keep him alive for so long?” Davis asked tactlessly.

“I think I can answer that question for you, Digidestined,” the all turned to see Gennai standing in front of the computer.

Gennai walked towards the bed and smiled at Izzy. “So the child of Faith and Knowledge is back where he belongs.”

“Why did they keep him alive for so long? T.K. repeated the question as Tai took a hold of Izzy’s hand protectively.

“Because they wanted his powers, Child of Hope.”

“Why did they want Izzy’s powers so badly? Why is he so special?” Davis asked.

Gennai sighed. “Because, Child of Courage, Izzy’s powers are the key to ruling the Digiworld.”

A shocked silence fell over them until Ken laughed, hoping he’d either heard it wrong or Gennai was joking.

“You....you are kidding, right?” he finally asked even as he knew Gennai wouldn’t joke in a situation like this.

“I wish I was young Digidestined,” a sad expression fell over his face as he sat down on the chair next to the bed, sighing as he stared at Izzy’s motionless form.

“I think it is time the truth is revealed, the whole truth.”

He turned to the Digidestined.

“Twenty-three years ago there was evil attacking the world. Innocents, older than you were, were chosen to protect the world just like you were. They fought the evil Digimon for a very long time, continuing even when one of them fell pregnant.”

He shifted.

“The baby was born in the Digital World, right in the middle of a terrible fight. The Digidestined of then had to fight, not only to protect the world but also an innocent baby as they were trapped much like some of you have been in the past.”

Letting his gaze fall over each of them he wasn’t surprised to see horror on the faces of the older Digidestined, knowing what it meant, not being able to escape to the safety of home in the evening.

“However, soon after the birth the Digidestined discovered that the birth in Digiworld had infected the child, granting him powers no humans could ever have. Both parents were very strong Digidestined and they had given their powers to their child.”

He shifted again as the youngsters before him glanced at each other.

“Because he was born to two very good people, he despised evil and they named him Child of Faith because they believed he would one day safe them all. But the dark Digimon found out about the child of Faith’s abilities and wanted to use the little boy’s powers for their own evil gain. To protect the child, they found a way to escape the Digiworld and seal the gate so none could ever escape. But the gate did not seal properly and one dark Master escaped to earth.”

Apprehension slid over most of their faces and Gennai sighed.

“That dark Master followed the Digidestined he attacked them. The parents tried to escape while the others fought him off, but without their Digimon at their side they did not stand a chance. Piedmon then caused a car crash, in which both Hope and Light died. Piedmon tried to take the baby with him, but Faith already had too much power and sealed Piedmon away into the Digital World again.”

He paused to let that knowledge soak in.

“Light and Hope were Izzy’s parents?” T.K. asked surprised and Gennai nodded.

“Yes. My colleagues and I would have taken the baby into our care, but we knew that the Dark Masters would not rest until they had control over him. So we shielded his powers for both the Digimon and himself and left him in the care of his uncle and aunt, the only family he had left.”

Tai looked down, already having known most of the story from the start but it still hurt to know his closest friend had lost his biological parents, just because he’d been born with some powers that Piedmon desired.

“You say you shielded his powers, then how did Arukenimon find him?”Joe asked.

“One of us had been captured and tortured until he finally gave the name Izumi away. With that information they searched for a young boy with that name. When you first came to the Digiworld, you fought a Dark Master on whom we based our shield and when you destroyed him, the shield broke also. Exposing Faith to the world.”

“They soon found his location and what he’d done as the Child as Knowledge. But despite knowing where he was, they couldn’t reach him in your world as he had shielded them away himself. I warned Izzy that he would be in danger should he go to the Digiworld, but when you called for his help, he refused to leave you in danger and answered you call. The chance the Dark ones had been waiting for, and took.”

Gennai looked back at Izzy with a sad smile. “He choose his friends above his own life, above his freedom. He will never have a normal life as long as he has these powers.”

“But can’t he just vanquish them if he’s really as strong as you say he is,” Sora asked.

“No, he only controls a fragment of the powers he has.”

“So, all the stuff he can already do is nothing compared to what he’d be able to do if he had full control?” Matt asked.

“Exactly.”

“So what you are saying is that Izzy has the power to destroy all evil for good if he controls these powers?” Davis asked suspiciously, frowning when Gennai nodded. “Then why the hell hasn’t he learned yet?”

Gennai turned his gaze to Tai accusingly, who in turn looked down.

“He was afraid of what he can do.”

"Why would he be afraid of his own power?" Davis asked and Tai sighed.

"How would you feel if one day you found out that with one wrong sneeze you can destroy the world? Destroy the ones you love without meaning too."

Davis, who was about to say something, closed his mouth.

"Got the point.”

"What are we going to do?" Matt looked at Tai.

“I don’t know Matt. We either need to find a way to destroy all evil or take Izzy’s powers away from him.”

Joe frowned, but whatever he was going to say died as he saw Izzy stir.

“He’s waking up.”

They all looked down before Matt cleared his throat and rose to their feet. “Right, we need to go home, school and parents and stuff, come on.”

Some protested, but Kari and Joe helped Matt chase them out and Tai turned to Gennai. 

“You too, I don’t want you to be anywhere near for now.”

Gennai nodded resigned and disappeared as Kari closed the computer.

“We’re all going home to take care of stuff and meet up in the diner room at three this afternoon. Talk with him and take care of him,” Joe said before he and Matt left too.

Tai sat down and reached for Izzy’s hand, pulling it into his lap as he waited for another reaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the question if Izzy truly is an Empath and the answer is no, he is not. But I have always found that he was scarily good at reading what others had in mind and always just suspected he was one, so I made him one.


	8. Chapter 8

Izzy´s eyes shot open and he blinked rapidly before in one panicked movement, he yanked backwards and slid into the corner of the room and pressed against the wall.

Tai blinked in surprise at the sudden quickness of the younger man before he slid to the ground and moved towards his friend.

“Izzy….it’s all right, you’re home,” he stopped a few steps away and knelt down, sliding into the thin beam of light that showed through the curtains as Izzy showed no recognition. 

“Tai?” the fear slowly disappeared in those dark eyes as he recognised him, his voice soft but disbelieving and Tai felt his heart break.

“Yeah, I’m here, Izzy.”

Tears filled his eyes as he shook his head. “No, I’m dreaming again. You look exactly like you do in my dreams.”

Moving even closer, Tai caressed Izzy’s cheek with trembling fingers. “Does this feel like you are dreaming?” He whispered.

“Tai....” slowly the tears began to slid down Izzy’s cheeks as he placed his hand on Tai’s chest and Tai slowly pulled him into his arms.

Izzy shivered at his touch, but tightened his arms around Tai in an embrace as he realised he was really there.

Tai choked on a sob as he held the boy he loved so much tightly until Izzy pulled away to look at him searchingly, roaming his eyes over his face with a watery smile that made him look younger and even more beautiful than he already was.

Trembling dirty pale fingers touched Tai’s cheek and he leaned into the touch before kissing the fingertips.

“Where are we?”

“My house. We were able to get back to the gate with the help of the others.”

“I didn’t think I’d ever see home again,” Izzy whispered.

Tai looked down as the image of the little grave the government had put up came to mind and Izzy turned back to him.

“They think I’m dead?”

“Yeah....” he sighed, brushing his hands over Izzy’s cheek, both in comfort and because he couldn’t stop touching him.

“I should take care of your wounds,” he eventually said as Izzy leaned into his touch.

“Tai?”

“Yeah?”

“My parents......are they still alive?”

“They were killed in a car crash years ago, I’m so sorry.”

Izzy’s expression tightened for a moment before he nodded.

“How long ago?”

“Five years. A drunk driver crashed them off the road and they died instantly,” at his words silent tears slipped down and he pulled Izzy into his arms again as the boy cried for the parents he’d never been able to say goodbye to.

Placing a kiss to his temple, Tai waited patiently until the other was spent and pulled back, drying his own tears.

“Where are they buried?”

“I’ll take you there some time, but first we should get you cleaned up.”

He helped Izzy up and to the bathroom where he filled a bath, realising it would be the first one he had in years.

“Do you need help bathing?” he asked as Izzy flinched, trying to raise his arm.

“I....” he shifted nervously, wrapping his arms around himself.

“I already saw most of the wounds when we cut you lose and you’ll need help caring for them,” Tai said softly, reaching for scissors to simply cut the torn clothing away.

Izzy’s breathing hitched as the fabric caught onto some of the newer wounds and Tai swallowed thickly as the full extent of his injuries was revealed. 

Scars ran criss-cross over his entire torso and more cuts in various states of healing than Tai could even count littered his skin.

“Do you think the water will help or make it worst?” he asked as he eyes various burns.

“I don’t care, I’d rather be in pain and be clean than remain dirty,” Izzy admitted, relaxing as he realised Tai didn’t make a big issue of his injuries.

Nodding, Tai helped him undress completely and helped him into the bath before joining him so that he could carefully wash the wounds out.

Through it all Izzy didn’t look at him, but kept his gaze firmly on the wall as he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood while tears of pain slid down.

The water was burning on his dirty, tortured skin and Tai’s carefully movements lid a fire through the wounds and it was all he could do not to scream out in pain.

The years in the mountain had taught him to banish the pain to prevent more beatings and the satisfaction it brought to the one hurting him.

He swallowed thickly and shifted his gaze from the bathroom wall to Tai when he felt the sadness and fear the other felt.

“Tai?”

He turned to brush the tears away when Tai wrapped his hand around his fingers.

“I’m all right, I just....I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again,” the brunet admitted.

“Me neither,” Izzy pulled Tai’s hand to his; placing a kiss on it that made Tai smile and pull him into his arms again.

After a long moment of simply sitting in each other’s embrace, Tai pulled back and raised them to their feet.

“Let me bandage these and then I’ll wash your hair. And maybe a hair cut?” Tai tried to tease and Izzy smiled with a nod.

Tai took quick work of bandaging the wounds, silently thanking Joe for forcing them all to learn basic skills years ago and washed and cut Izzy’s hair before giving him some clothes to wear when Izzy indicated he didn’t want more rest.

Tai smiled as he looked at the young man before him, dressed in an old pair of black jeans that were too tight on Tai but fit Izzy well and a light blue buttoned down shirt that didn’t require Izzy to lift his arms.

The shirt’s light colour made the bruises on Izzy’s pale face stand out even more while also making his dark eyes look bigger and even darker.

He let his eyes travel over his body to see if he’d missed any injuries and just because he could.

“I feel like I’m dreaming and never want to wake up again,” he whispered, smiling when Izzy’s eyes twinkled. 

“You’re not the only one. I’m scared that I will wake up and realise it was just a dream, that you are just a dream.”

They moved as one to step into another embrace and Tai sighed as Izzy rested his cheek against his shoulder.

“It’s not a dream, we are both really here,” he finally decided, pulling back so that he could brush his thumb over Izzy’s cheek.

“I love you, you know that right?”

“It’s what kept me going all this time. I love you too,” Izzy smiled again, leaning in to brush a shy kiss to the corner of Tai’s mouth.

Grinning at him, Tai returned the gesture before pulling back. “Let’s make some soup; I’m sure you’re hungry.”

“Starving,” Izzy let Tai slowly lead him to the kitchen and then sat down as Tai grabbed what he needed. He looked around.

“Where are we?”

“My and Kari’s house. I moved out of my parent’s home after a few fights and a year later Kari moved in here with me.”

“Nothing serious, I hope?”

“They wanted me to settle down with some random girl I couldn’t care less about,” Tai answered honestly, not wanting to lie to him.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not; they’ve known where my heart laid since I was twelve. It is their loss that they couldn’t accept me.”

“But they are your parents,” Izzy softly commented.

“I still have Kari and you, and that is all I need.”

Nodding Izzy looked around.

“It is a beautiful place.”

“Kari did most of the decorating.”

He watched as Izzy walked around slowly, touching a photo that rested in the window sill.

“When was this taken?”

Tai didn’t need to move closer to see the photo Izzy had spotted. “A few days before....”

“I can’t remember this. It is hard to remember good things.”

Moving to his side, Tai wrapped his arms around him and looked down at the photo Kari had made of the two of them.

She had developed it black and white and he had his arms around Izzy’s waist while the younger boy was leaning into his hug and looking at something behind the camera.

Neither of them was smiling and the photo looked oddly serious even if the situation had been relaxed.

Placing the photo back Izzy leaned back against him while letting his eyes travel over the photos.

“You don’t smile in any picture.”

“I didn’t feel like smiling.”

Izzy turned in his embrace and looked into his eyes. “Don’t ever stop smiling again, I love your smile.”

“You give me reason to smile,” Tai replied seriously, holding Izzy close for a long moment before sighing.

“The others look forward to seeing you.”

“They were here, weren’t they?”

“You can feel their presence?”

“Yeah. I feel excitement but also fear and...Anger. They are so unsure that I’m kind of afraid to see them.”

“We can postpone meeting them if that makes you feel better?”

“Hmm, what happened to Tentomon?”

The sudden question made Tai blink.

“I don’t know. After the gate closed behind you we couldn’t get back in until you opened the gate again. I haven’t seen any of our Digimon.”

“I have to go back,” Izzy turned to the computer.

“What? You can’t, we barely escaped this time!”

“I know, but I can’t let them hurt innocents while I have the ability to help them. I can’t stand aside Tai, not anymore.”

He sighed as Tai moved to stand between him and the computer.

“I’ll have to learn how to use my powers.”

“That could kill you. I’m not losing you after just having found you again.”

“I have to do something.”

“We’ll find a way for you to use your powers, without you getting hurt.”

He took Izzy’s hand to pull him close again.

“It feels like a dream, Tai. And I am afraid that I’ll wake up again. That I will open my eyes after I go to sleep and will be back in that cave. I’m scared,” Izzy held onto him. “But I can’t stand by and watch innocents die because of me.”

“We’ll figure something out, but I’m not letting anyone hurt you again, never again.”


	9. Chapter 9

Tai took Izzy´s hand and lead him to the door.

“It will be all right.”

Tai reached out to open the door and suddenly strange sounds and thoughts filled Izzy’s mind and he had to grab Tai tightly so that he wouldn’t fall while trying to block everything.

But it was just too much as panic, pain, fear and disgust all ran through his mind at top speed, making him dizzy and unable to think of anything else.

“Stop it....stop it!” he screamed out in pain as he dropped to the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Tai immediately knelt down beside him.

“Make it stop, I can’t stop hearing them.”

“What do you mean? Who do you hear?” Tai rubbed his back confused.

“I can’t block them, I try and try but I can’t block them.”

“Who can’t you block?” Tai grabbed Izzy’s hands as they dug into his temples.

“These feelings. They keep flooding inside of me and I can’t shield from them. Why can’t I shield?”

“I don’t know. The door is still closed so you shouldn’t be able to feel outside so deeply.”

“They aren’t the problem. It’s not from outside, they come from inside,” Izzy squeezed his eyes closed to try and block the pain. “Please stop!”

Tai was thrown backwards as a red light appeared around Izzy and blue light appeared around the shield that attacked it.

“Izzy!” 

Izzy screamed before passing out underneath the strength of the attack and both lights disappeared.

Shocked Tai ran over and turned the unconscious boy around, heart stopping for a moment as he saw the blood at the corner of his mouth.

“Come on, you have to fight whatever this is. Fight it, Iz.”

He didn’t know how long they sat there like that but his gaze snapped down as he felt cold fingers grab his shirt.

“Thank god, what happened?”

He helped him sit up again and Izzy looked up to him. 

“You have to go.”

“What? You can’t seriously think that I am going to leave you.”

“No, they are angry that I got away again so they want revenge now. I can’t let them hurt you.”

“Away again?....you mean you’ve managed to escape before?”

“Tried repeatedly, but always failed.”

“And with them you mean Arukenimon? Did she do this?”

“I can’t keep fighting them anymore, Tai. I’m just so tired.”

“I know, but you can’t stop. Why don’t you lie down for a while?”

As Izzy nodded Tai lifted him up and brought him to his bed, smiling as he noticed Izzy was already asleep before he’d covered him.

Checking to make sure he was truly asleep, Tai left the bedroom door open and made his way to the phone.

“Ishida residence speaking.”

“Matt, it’s Tai.”

“What’s wrong?” he could hear the worry in the other’s voice and sighed.

“We didn’t save him.”

“What?”

“I don’t know how to protect him, Matt,” silent tears ran down his cheeks.

“I’m on my way.”

As Matt hung up Tai sighed relieved.

If anyone would have a good idea it would be Matt.

About five minutes later Tai heard a knock on the door and opened it to see Matt, Joe and Kari standing there.

“What happened?” Matt asked.

“He woke up some time ago and seemed all right. But when I wanted to take him out he began to scream. Saying feeling attacked him from the inside and when he tried to shield himself a blue light appeared and attacked him.”

“I figured it had been too easy to get him away from there,” Matt nodded.

Surprised they all looked at him.

“Well, think about it. They’ve been fighting him for ten years. You heard it when we were in that cave. They had broken his shields; they wouldn’t let him get away that easily now that he’s vulnerable.”

“So what can we do?” Kari asked.

“I don’t know.”

“We can’t,” Joe answered as he walked to Izzy and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

“What do you mean we can’t?”

“You heard Gennai; they will never leave him alone as long as he’s got these powers.”

“What if we take them away then?” Kari suggested.

“No, we tried that already. Only the first try almost killed him, we can’t take it away from him forcefully and he doesn’t know how to give them up.”

They all sat down on the ground while Joe sat on the edge of the bed.

“Combine.”

“What?”

“Combine his power. If he learns to control them then he might be able to destroy them. But he doesn’t have to strength to learn it anymore,” Joe thought for a second. “When he tried to defend himself he was attacked viciously, right?”

Tai nodded.

“I thought so. Because they broke down his shields, he can no longer defend himself and they can attack him. If we lock his power, they might be distracted long enough that he can learn to use it bit by bit.”

They all stared at him blankly before Kari hesitated to speak up.

“You want to break his power into pieces and lock it up....where?”

“In us.”

“How do you mean in us?” Tai asked confused, but Kari and Matt both nodded.

“Yes, that would be a solution. They’ll be confused and won’t know who to attack. While they are distracted then Gennai can teach him how to use his powers properly.”

“And you really think he will readily agree for us all to endanger ourselves?” Tai asked sceptically.

“He won’t have a choice,” Joe shrugged. “He knows he doesn’t have the strength to keep his powers safe any more. It is the only way.

“Right...the only way.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: THERE WILL BE VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER.

In the real world

Tai leaned against the doorframe, watching Joe take care of Izzy´s injuries.

“His wounds aren’t infected, you did a good job.”

He nodded slowly at the praise, but didn’t smile.

“Don’t blame yourself, Tai. You weren’t in any position to help him.”

“No, I knew what would happen if he ever went to the Digiworld. I should have warned you all so you knew not to call him.”

“It is no use to blame yourself for what happened, Tai. Neither you or I could have done anything and sooner or later they’d have found a way to get to him.”

He squeezed Tai’s shoulder and moved past him to join the others, pausing in the door opening to glance back at Izzy’s unresponsive form.

“Please let this work.”

Tai resumed his spot beside Izzy and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

It had been four days since he’d lost consciousness and they hadn’t been able to wake up again.

Who knew what they were doing to him right now, Tai thought as tears ran down his cheeks.

"Please let Joe's idea work…please."…

In the Digiworld

Everything was dark when Izzy opened his eyes again and he blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

“Tai?” he asked confused.

“There is no one else here except the two of us, Faith.”

Hearing a familiar laugh behind him, Izzy tensed and tried to move away from her. Only to be stopped by the raging pain pulsing through his body and the chains holding him up.

“No....” he whispered, tears welling up.

“Had a nice little dream, Faith? Why don’t you tell me about it?” 

“It wasn’t a dream,” Izzy cursed, recognising the cave now.

“It was. Did you really think your little friends would have come for you?”

Izzy shook his head. “They came. Tai, Joe and Matt came; they saved me and took me away from you.”

Finally Arukenimon walked into sight. “Oh Faith, I thought you would have given up hope by now. Your little friends are never coming for you. They’ve moved on.”

“I don’t believe you,” Izzy growled, holding tightly onto the feeling he’d felt when he’d seen Tai.

Arukenimon laughed. “I can prove it. Do you want to see for yourself?”

A sliver of doubt slid into his thoughts and Izzy swallowed. No, he didn’t want to see.

“See? You know I am telling you the truth. There is no one who will ever come for little old you.”

Tears slipped down Izzy’s eyes as he realised it had indeed been a dream. No bandages covered his injuries and he was wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing for as long as he could remember.

“They left me alone, why?”

“Because you are worth nothing to them, you are useless.”

Izzy couldn’t find it in himself to contradict her anymore, it didn’t matter and so he slowly nodded. After so many years surely she knew better and was telling the truth if no one had come to help him.

“I’m worth nothing,” speaking the words out loud broke something inside of him and he let the little flame of hope he’d held onto shimmer and die.

“That’s the truth boy, you are nothing,” Arukenimon smiled evilly and a shiver of fear ran down Izzy’s spine.

A few Gazimon appeared with material in their claws. “Boss, what do you want us to do?”

“The usual.”

“But his shields are already broken.”

“That doesn’t matter. It is just fun to see him in pain.”

The Gazimon’s eyes lit up with glee in the darkness and Izzy tried to shift backwards as they approached.

“Please don’t....just leave me alone, please,” his pleadings were no more than whispers as they came near him with lashes and stinging nettles, screaming out in pain as they set to work.

Tears sprang into his eyes and he didn’t bother to stop them as he concentrated on trying not to scream again.

He turned his hands into fists as the lashed hit him full force, over and over again.

After a while they had their fun with the lashes and they moved closer to place the stinging nettles against his body, causing him to try and shift from the burning feeling and bit his lip hard enough that he tasted blood in his mouth.

“Stop it, we don’t want him dead!”

Immediately they stopped and Izzy drew in as much of a deep breath as he could, not having the strength to look up to see who’d stopped them, consciousness wavering now that they weren’t constantly hurting him.

He didn’t know if he’d passed out or not, but when he became aware of his surroundings again it hurt to move.

Why...why had his friends left him here? Why were they doing this to him?

He didn’t understand what he’d done wrong, what he’d done to deserve this.

A laugher told him he’d whispered his question out loud, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as emotions slammed into him, making his head burst out with white hot pain.

“You know what you did, Faith. You survived when you shouldn’t have.”

Izzy looked up to Arukenimon. “Why don’t you just kill me?”

“Because you have something we want. And we’ll keep you alive until you give us what we want.”

“Will it stop if I do?” 

“Yes, when you’ve given us your powers I will make it stop personally,” Arukenimon smiled and Izzy could almost believe it was motherly.

Mother. 

The Tai in his dream had told him his parents were gone, died in a car crash when he’d not been there to protect them. Died like his biological parents had.

He didn’t know if it was true or not, but the him in the dream had believed Tai and new tears slid down as he thought about the wild haired teenager he’d fallen in love with.

Had Tai truly moved on like Arukenimon said? Had he forgotten about Izzy?

The thought made him sad but it also gave him some comfort. If Tai had moved on then he surely he was happy and that was all Izzy had ever wanted for the one he loved.

If Tai had forgotten about him, if they’d all forgotten about him then surely he didn’t have to keep on fighting anymore.

For what?

“Do you want it to stop?”

Wearily, Izzy nodded. He was in pain and tired.....so, so tired. He closed his eyes and slowly nodded.

“Yes.”


	11. 11

Tai was holding Izzy’s hand and dozing off when he suddenly collapsed and screamed as pain, stronger than anything he’d ever felt, rushed through him.

Matt, Kari and Joe ran to him.

“What happened?!”

Unable to answer them Tai closed his eyes, images of Izzy flashing through his mind as he cried out before the pain suddenly disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived.

“He....he’s back at that cave. Or at least his spirit is. I dozed off....they were hurting him....oh god. Joe how do we bind his powers?”

He rose to his feet hurriedly.

“You want to bind his powers without him knowing?” 

As Tai merely nodded Matt let out a low whistle.

“And how do you want to explain that one to him?”

“I’ll see when the time comes; right now we need to hurry.”

“Why Tai?” Kari pulled on his sleeve to stop his pacing and as he looked down to her he was suddenly aware of just how young she truly was, how young Izzy was.

“He gave up.”

That was all he needed to say to get them to hurry in getting ready to travel to the Digiworld again and Kari wiped out her Digivice.

“Digigate...open!”

“Be careful.”

They all nodded and disappeared while Kari sat down in front of the computer while facing Izzy’s motionless body.

“Bring him back home.”

Appearing in the Digital World, Tai, Matt and Joe looked around.

“Where are we going?”

“To Gennai, he’ll know what to do.”

Nodding at Joe’s logic they hurried to where they knew Gennai lived and didn’t stop running until they’d reached the lake, not surprised to see the hidden stairs already in view.

Hurrying down they saw Gennai was already waiting for them.

“Welcome Digidestined, I was unfortunately expecting you.”

“We need to bind Izzy’s powers,” Tai didn’t bother with proper greetings.

“Where do you want to bind them in?” Gennai sighed and Matt was shocked by how much like his older self he suddenly looked.

“In ourselves.”

“You want to bind the power of Faith inside the three of you?” Gennai asked shocked.

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you ask for the help of the others as well? After all, twelve vessels are better than three.” 

“We don’t want to involve them into this. They wouldn’t understand...” Tai began but Joe interrupted him.

“Izzy doesn’t fully trust most of them. He wouldn’t give them up to anyone but us three without fighting it.”

Gennai nodded. “When do you wish to do it? I assume you have to get Izzy?”

“No. Arukenimon has him again. We need to act before he hands them over.”

Gennai blinked, surprised on how they could have lost him so quickly again, but didn’t waste time asking more questions and walked them to a table.

“This place to bind his powers is the same temple you used to get back to the real world the first time.”

“With those big spider Digimon?”

“Great, just great,” Joe whispered at Gennai’s nod and Matt had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as it was common knowledge how much Joe hated spiders.

“Let’s get going then, shall we?”

They quickly made their way to the temple, happy to see it looked deserted.

“Can you still feel him?” Matt asked as Tai bit his lip.

“No, everything stopped when he gave in.”

He closed his eyes for a second before they walked to the table where several Digimon cards laid and Tai smiled despite himself.

“Remember that you all chose me as your leader here?”

“Yeah, and the first thing you did was forcing Izzy into finding a pattern in those cards.”

“And he did so without any trouble,” Joe laughed before they turned solemnly again and followed Gennai.

“Here it is, Digidestined.”

Matt looked up to see a small sacrifice table and eleven pillars in a circle.

“I think we may need the other’s help after all.”

“Izzy will be pissed,” Tai sighed before typing a quick message to the others.

Need everyone at the temple where we first travelled back home. ASAP! Questions, ask Kari and hurry up. Tai.

“Now all we can do is wait,” he said as they all turned to look at the circle.....


	12. Chapter 12

Looking up when he heard footsteps, Tai turned to the others.

“They are here.”

“About time,” Matt muttered as they rose to their feet when all eight other Digidestined ran in and stopped before them.

“I told them what’s going on,” Kari explained as Tai shifted.

“Where do you need us?”Yolei asked and Matt glanced at the rest to only see determination and friendship in their eyes.

They would do anything to help Izzy this time.

“Stand by the pillar with your crest on it. Gennai shall do the rest,” he answered.

Without further comment they all took their places and looked at Gennai nervously.

Tai, Matt and Joe made their way over as well and Gennai moved forward.

“As you all know we are here to bind the powers of the Child of Faith into the eleven people present here. All you have to do is say the name of your crest and make sure you are only doing this for Izzy. Then we can bind his powers into all of you, any questions?”

“Will we hurt Izzy by doing this?”

Gennai turned to T.K.

“I don’t know, but even if we do, it is necessary to do so. If we do not bind his powers, Arukenimon and her lackeys will get hold of them and that will hurt him even more.”

As they all nodded Gennai spoke words in Digicode.

“Now.”

"Courage."  
"Friendship."  
"Love."  
"Sincerity."  
"Responsibility."  
"Hope."  
"Light."  
"Courage."  
"Friendship."  
"Love."  
"Knowledge."  
"Sincerity."  
"Responsibility."

As they said their crests, the symbol lit up on their chest and in the middle of the circle Gennai places the symbol of Izzy’s crest as it too lit up brightly.

As Cody named his crest, several beams of lights lifted up out of the symbol and they all braced themselves as the beams travelled directly towards them.

“Now, hold out your crest and lock the power inside of it.”

They did as they were told and locked the beams up, their chest stopping to slow the moment they did.

Dizziness fell over each of them and they let themselves slide to the ground. None of them spoke for a long moment as they looked at their crests.

Tai was the first one to regain his speech.

“Did it work?”

Gennai looked up to him tiredly but before he could answer, a big blast came from Spiral Mountain and the all felt the storm of Power as smoke, fire and wind rushed out in all directions.

Screams of pain echoed all around them as everything was swallowed in the blast.

“What’s happening!”

Matt screamed as they all collapsed, white hot pain shooting through his veins as the storm of power ran over them as well.

Fragments of Izzy and an unknown Digimon flashed through him and he felt the pain and suffering Izzy had felt for so long in his mind.

Realising what was happening, he tried to fight to keep his consciousness, but failed and everything blacked out with one last thought in his mind.

Izzy had given his powers up.


	13. Chapter 13

With Izzy in the cave

Izzy stared detached as Arukenimon set up various things before him, not interested in what she was doing as he was barely aware of what was happening.

He shifted in the chains to regain some feeling in his arms, hissing as the short movement flared up pain everywhere in his body.

He looked up as light appeared before him and various symbols appeared and he blinked as he recognised the crests from the other Digidestined.

He blinked as a strange feeling rushed through his body and he shivered.

What were the others doing here?

He glanced around to see several Gazimon walk around, but no one paid any attention to him for a change.

Turning back to the crests, he closed his eyes as he felt the one of Courage touch his cheek and in his mind he could hear his friend’s voices.

Be brave! You are not alone! 

You are loved!

Be responsible!

They can't fight your honesty!

Don't lose hope!

Follow the light

Fight them!

We'll help you!

You are stronger than they are!

Don't give up!

Tears slid down as he could feel the sincerity of their hope directed towards them and blinked as the crests were starting to pull red wires of a strange energy out of him and collect them around themselves.

He realised they were pulling his powers from him, it brought a small smile to his lips as he knew that at least Arukenimon wouldn’t get them that way.

He’d hate to give them what they wanted so he allowed the crests to pull his powers away from him more rapidly while trying to remember the faces of his friends.

But he found he couldn’t even make out parts of them, not even Tai and the thought vanished as Arukenimon carried something towards him that didn’t look like it would feel nice once it was attached.

Unintentionally he pulled against the chains and winced in pain as blood freely trailed down over his arms.

Arukenimon laughed at his reaction.

“Don’t worry, Faith. Everything will be over in a few minutes,” she placed something in front of him and he automatically looked down.

“Curious to what it is, huh? You truly are the Digidestined of Knowledge.”

Wearily he looked up to her again.

“Knowledge?”

She laughed. “You don’t remember?”

His confused gaze must have convinced her because she laughed even harder.

“Looks like we have nothing to worry about, then,” she turned to the device and rose some part of it to eye height.

“Let’s get this started, shall we?”

Don’t give up

Izzy blinked as he remembered those words.

Please don’t give up.

“I’m not giving up. My friends are going to save me.”

Arukenimon smiled. “And how do you know that?”

He looked up to her, feeling a shimmer of hope as he stared at her.

“I felt them.”

He secretly hoped to see uncertainty in her cruel eyes, but instead she just smiled.

“You felt them? when? Just now?”

Slowly Izzy nodded, uncertain to why she was just smiling at him.

“I am afraid that is impossible, unless they are ghosts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think for a moment, boy. You’ve been here for years. Time goes slower there, doesn’t it?”

He nodded.

“One year there is thirty-five years over here.”

Izzy blinked as he tried to recall what he knew about the timeline in Digiworld, but nothing would come to mind.

Arukenimon smiled, clearly expecting this.

“Let me help you count. You’ve been here for a little over thirty-five hundred years. That is one hundred years over there. As I recall, humans don’t live that long. Your little brat friends have been long dead by now,” she laughed evilly as all hope died out from Izzy’s eyes.

No.

“They can’t be....they just can’t!” his friends couldn’t be dead.

“If that is true, then why am I still alive?!”

“Did you forget about the shield I put over you? That stops you from getting older quickly.”

Yes, he did remember the shield. It was what stopped him from asking out for help too.

He hung his head as he cried silent tears.

Don’t give up, hang on.

Hang on for what?

He bit his lip as he saw Arukenimon laugh.

She was right, not many humans would still be alive after a hundred years.

Besides, even if they had been alive, surely they’d have forgotten all about him long ago now.

After all, he was nothing more than a low life, good for nothing.

He closed his eyes as Arukenimon told the Gazimon to get started before they all left the room to avoid getting hurt.

It would all end soon now.

Pain interrupted his thought pattern and he felt like electricity was pulling through him as a thundering wave.

Memories of the years he’d spend there, all the memories of pain and fear washed over him again and again in a never-ending circle and he screamed out in pain.

He could feel the emotions of everyone in the other room. 

Anger, joy and hate made place for pure pain and fear as he felt the screams of their own they released. 

But that was not all he felt, as he could suddenly feel each and every single living creature in this world.

He could feel their pain as he felt his powers leave him and faces of hundreds of Digimon rapidly passed through his mind and he remembered everyone he’d ever met or seen.

The pain and emotions crashing into him were overwhelming and his vision blacked out.

Don´t give up, Izzy.

His eyes snapped open again to see a young man standing in front of him, but although he looked familiar and Izzy knew he should know him, he couldn´t place him in his muffled mind.

“Who are you?”

The man smiled.

“Don’t say you’ve already forgotten about me, Iz.”

Bright brown eyes stared straight into his and Izzy’s heart skipped a beat as he suddenly knew.

“Tai.”

“You can’t give up now.”

“How can I keep holding on? There’s no hope....”

“There is always hope, love. You just have to see it,” Tai interrupted him, and Izzy realised he wasn’t bound to the rock any more as the other took his hands.

“Look where? There’s nothing left.”

“Hope is in everything. You just have to look for it to see sometimes. Everyone is trying to help you, but you have to fight for yourself as well.”

“The others? Everyone is dead; Matt, Joe, Kari...even Hope himself.”

“No they aren’t. They are here in the Digital World, but your power is hurting them so you have to get back to fight Arukenimon.”

“But she said....time....”

“Don’t believe anything she tells you. They are alive, I am alive,” Tai wrapped his arms around him and Izzy leaned into the embrace.

“I’m so tired, Tai. I don’t want to fight anymore.”

“You’ve never been a quitter and you don’t have a choice now. If you don’t fight, both of our lives will be lost. Remember what they told you?”

As Izzy looked into Tai’s eyes he remembered. 

Be brave! You are not alone!

You are loved!

Be responsible!

They can't fight your honesty!

Don't lose hope!

Follow the light

Fight them!

We'll help you!

You are stronger than they are!

Don't give up!

Tears filled Izzy’s eyes. “I can feel them...but...I can’t feel you. Why can’t I feel you?”

Tai’s smile saddened but he shook his head. “Don’t worry about that right now, love. You have to worry about yourself right now and fight back.”

“I can’t.”

“Sure you can, you are one of the bravest people I’ve ever known, Iz.”

Izzy shook his head stubbornly. “I’m worth nothing.”

Tai took a hold of his chin as he looked down and lifted his face.

“That’s not true. You are worth the world to me and stronger than they will ever be.”

“I’m stronger?”

Tai nodded as he stepped away from him and suddenly grinned.

“You are going to get back out there and claim back what is yours. You are the one to do it! Don’t be a lost hope. You are Faith and it is time to show them just who they are dealing with.”

Izzy smiled at Tai’s determination, feeling that he truly believed in what he said and nodded.

“Yeah....I won’t give up.”

As Tai disappeared from before him the pain he’d been in suddenly rushed back in and staggered against his renewed bonds, making him realise it had been a dream.

But as he glanced at the device, Tai’s words came back to him and with renewed hope he blew it up with his powers, making the pain disappear.

The thunder and darkness vanished immediately as he started pulling against the chain that held him and burned through them with the door opened.

“Grab him!” Mummymon screamed and Arukenimon growled.

“Trying to defend yourself now, won’t help you, Faith.”

“I wasn’t planning to defend at all,” Izzy raised his hand and Mummymon screamed in pain before turning into data.

Making a decision, Izzy glared at the data and that too blew up.

Several Gazimon blocked his path as Arukenimon ran but he simply destroyed them.

“That is for hurting my friends.”

Memories of a former escape came to him and he smiled as he opened all the walls to create a short cut and blinked as he walked into broad daylight.

Heat came up from the mountain and Izzy knew the mountain was going to erupt, using his powers to throw all the evil Gazimon and other unfamiliar Digimon that felt bad back into the mountain before closing it.

Reaching out with his empathy, he felt the presence of several Digidestined and laughed relieved as he could feel they weren’t hurt too badly.

But the smile vanished as he reached out further and couldn’t feel Tai’s presence. He knew that the vision he’d seen before had been real, had been able to feel it but he couldn’t feel his presence now.

Biting his lip as his heart hammered in his throat, he mentally send a message to Matt and Joe to meet him half way and began to stumble down the mountain to find out if his fear was right.


	14. Chapter 14

Matt came to with a moan, every single part of his body hurting and he slowly sat up to look around and see how the others were doing.

He rubbed his arms as the memories of pain and exhaustion came back to him, but he pushed it away as several groans made him turn.

He could see several of the others shattered around him and crawled to Joe, who was closest as the older man sat up.

“Are you all right?”

The blue-haired man shook his head. “My head hurts. What about you?”

“I’ll live. What made it stop?”

“I don’t know. But whatever did, I’m grateful.”

They helped each other to their feet before making their way to the others and Matt knelt down beside Sora, who was facing the ground and unresponsive.

“Sora....Sora, wake up,” when there was no reaction, he turned her around so that she’d be able to breathe easier and stumbled back with a scream.

Sora’s eyes were glassy and wide open, but clearly unseeing and Matt turned around just in time to throw up as Joe scrambled to his side.

“Oh god,” turning from her body, Joe stared at the others. 

A few had sat up and were trying to put themselves back together, but most were laying motionless on the ground and Joe’s heart clenched as he saw Mimi among them.

“No....check to see if the others are still alive!”

He ran to her and turned her around, already knowing the moment he touched her that she was gone.

“Mimi....no...”

“Everyone....they are all dead!” Davis cried out as he hugged Ken’s lifeless body close to him.

Joe swallowed thickly, for the first time seeing that beside him and Matt only Davis and Kari had sat up.

“Everyone....” his gaze fell on Kari as she was softly stroking Tai’s head while sobbing. 

Matt wiped his mouth and made his way to her unsteadily, pulling her into his arms and away from her brother’s body.

Kari choked on a sob before bursting into tears and clung to him so Matt tightened his grip and rubbed her back, not knowing what to say.

“This is not the time to cry over those who are lost, Digidestined. We need to get Faith back before it is too late.”

Davis turned to Gennai. “Give us a break! We just lost all of our friends because we’re trying to save your damn world. Why the hell is Izzy so damn important to you!”

“Stop it, he’s right. We can mourn them later, right now we need to continue or they’ll have died for nothing,” Kari said as she pulled back from Matt’s arms to wipe her tears away.

“We can come back for their bodies later but we need to do the right thing right now. It is what they would have wanted,” she glanced down at her brother, who looked more like he was asleep than dead.

“But Izzy....”

“Izzy didn’t do this,” Joe cut Davis off as he joined Matt and Kari.

“What? But I thought he gave his powers up?” confused Davis looked at him.

“He gave up because he felt us take his powers; he was fighting them to give us more time. I could see it.”

“He was helping us take his power more quickly. It is the last thing I remember before waking up again,” Kari confirmed.

“This isn’t Izzy’s work?” Davis asked hesitant.

“Izzy wouldn’t hurt a fly, least of all Tai,” Joe said.

“Trust in him, child of Courage,” Gennai added and Davis slowly nodded.

“Then we’ve got to save him.”

They all nodded and turned to Spiral Mountain when it suddenly erupted and Davis gasped.

“The mountain will burn!...What?”

They all saw a red wall appear when lava began to stream down and screams of pain and fear were heard from inside it.

“Izzy’s holding them there while they burn,” Matt swallowed.

“But Izzy is locked up, how can he be doing this?”

“He must have gotten free. That wall is his, I remember him using it to save us all in that last fight.”

Kari opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the beeping of Matt’s and Joe’s communicators and they pulled it out simultaneously.

“It’s Izzy, he’s asking us to meet us half way to Spiral Mountain. He’s going to stop Arukenimon and asks for our help.”

“Let’s go then. It is about time we get involved properly,” Davis grinned and with a nod they all made their way there while Matt send a confirming message back.


	15. Chapter 15

Matt took up the front as they slowly approached Spiral Mountain while Kari held onto Joe’s arm while they walked behind him. Gennai and Davis walked behind her in silence and Matt glanced back a couple of times worried.

It wasn’t like him to be so quiet.

“Davis.....”

Looking up to him questioningly, Davis’ expression turned to surprise and Matt turned back to see a long figure moving towards them slowly.

“Leomon!” Matt gasped as the figure became recognisable.

“Digidestined, how good it is to see your faces again. You are all grown up now.”

“What are you doing here?” Matt smiled.

“I felt the pain of the Child of Faith a while ago and knew that I had to warn Gennai.”

“I am already aware. The chosen ones had found him, but lost him again. He recently broke free himself while Arukenimon tried to tap into his powers.”

“I see. And where is Faith now?”

“Coming our way,” Matt revealed and Leomon turned so that he could join their walk.

As various evil Digimon ran down the mountain, he stepped forward.

“Eye of the lion!”

Matt felt useless without Gabumon as Leomon defeated them and as he glanced at the others, he realised they felt the same.

Once the Digimon were defeated they continued their way and Kari’s eyes lit up as they saw a single small figure making their way towards them.

Running forward, she threw her arms around him.

“Izzy!”

“Hello Kari,” Izzy smiled.

Matt and the others all stopped beside them and smiled at the reunion and Joe noticed that Izzy seemed to radiate power and strength.

As they separated again they all gasped, as Izzy was covered in even more blood than he’d been the first time they’d seen him. 

His clothes were torn and there was hardly any naturally creamy skin left under the blood and bruises.

Without a word Joe pulled off his blue sweater and handed it over so that he could cover himself up a bit, remaining in his t-shirt.

Nodding his thanks, Izzy slipped into it before looking at them one by one.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them again with a golden glance in them and he sighed.

“I’m sorry about the others. But all is not lost yet.”

“You know what happened?” Davis asked surprised.

“I didn’t realise it yet as I could only feel a few of you, but I do now. Tai?”

Matt slowly shook his head and Izzy swallowed.

“I see.”

“Child of Faith, we need to finish Arukenimon and Mummymon off as soon as we can,” Leomon spoke up.

“Mummymon is already dead and I have no intention to let Arukenimon go.”

Gennai stepped forward to place something into Izzy’s hand.

“Here, I believe this is yours. Welcome back, Izzy.”

Izzy glanced down at the crest and Digivice in his hand and nodded his thanks.

“We need to finish this now, as long as your presences are still a surprise. Will you three be able to fight?”

“We’re not going to let you do this alone,” Kari took his hand and Izzy nodded.

“She’s going south.”

Davis stared at the young man before them, realising how different he looked. He seemed stronger, calmer and fearless and he was suddenly reminded of when Diablomon had attacked, years ago.

Izzy had been the one to lead them then and it was only now that Davis truly realised that.

“Izzy....”

“Davis?” Izzy met his gaze and a shiver ran down Davis’ spine as he could see no emotions in those dark eyes. It was like he’d banned everything to deep inside himself.

“Let’s go,” Davis changed what he’d originally wanted to say and with a nod they were on their way.

Davis hung back a little so that he was walking beside Matt and Joe and turned to them with a whisper.

“Why doesn’t Izzy seem to have any emotions?”

“He’s locked them away. It’s something he’s always done, but it is just more obvious now because you’ve not see him for so long.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s Empathic. If he doesn’t shield himself then he’s overwhelmed by other’s emotions and collapses.”

Davis glanced towards Izzy, who either didn’t hear them or ignored their conversation.

“They are here,” Izzy suddenly stopped after a while. 

“Where?” Joe asked quietly.

“We are surrounded.”

Matt nodded and they all tensed for the upcoming battle when Izzy closed his eyes.

Veemon, Gabumon, Gomamon and Gatomon appeared out of nowhere and they all stared at each other confused for a moment before the Digimon noticed Izzy and nodded seriously.

“It is finally going to end,” Gomamon smirked as he joined Joe’s side.

“Let it begin...”


	16. Chapter 16

“Kari, move!”

Matt turned just in time to see Izzy push her aside as an electric thunder wave hit him in the side as he moved to duck himself.

“Izzy!” 

Joe called out as smoke came up to cover them all and screams came from their direction before a bright light suddenly broke through the smoke and they all saw Kari stand in the middle with her crest held up.

Izzy had gotten to his feet again and was staring passed them so Matt followed his gaze to see several Digimon surround them.

Arukenimon appeared before them with an evil glare. “Attack.”

“Digivolve!”

"Gomamon Digivolve into…. Ikkakumon!"

"Gabumon Digivolve into… Garurumon!"

Davis and Kari looked at each other and nodded.

"Digi Armor Energizes!"

"Veemon Armordigivolve into…Flamedramon!"

"Gatomon Armordigivolve into…Nefertimon!"

The four Digimon stood before them and attacked the Gazimon.

“Harpoon Torpedo!”

“Howling Blaster!”

“Fire Rocket!”

“Rosetta Stone!”

Soon all the Gazimon were destroyed and the Digimon turned their attention to Arukenimon and fired their attacks.

But she pushed them away like it was nothing and counter attacked.

“Can’t you do better than that? You’re weaklings! Acid Mist!”

Their Digimon screamed as they de-Digivolve into their Rookie forms and the Digidestined ran to them when they collapsed.

“She’s gotten stronger,” Matt said.

Arukenimon moved to strike again when Izzy stepped before them.

Arukenimon growled as she saw him. “You killed Mummymon.”

“He had it coming to him,” Izzy shrugged.

Arukenimon screamed in outrage as Izzy easily blocked her attack. 

“Tell me, how does it feel to watch someone you love die?”

The bitterness in his voice surprised Matt for a moment before he remember Tai telling him that Izzy had seen him die time after time and he gasped as red lines appeared in Izzy’s hands.

“Don’t worry, you’ll join him soon.”

Arukenimon’s eyes widened as she fired several Acid Mists towards Izzy, but he blocked them all with some sort of shield that blew every single attack back towards her.

“What’s the matter? Feel like a fly trapped in a web?”

Matt wondered why he didn’t just finish her off as Izzy side stepped another attack before a big web was thrown at him that Izzy couldn’t avoid and he was trapped inside it.

“You’ve got to break free!” Davis yelled as he ran forward.

“Stop right there.”

Davis stopped even though Izzy hadn’t raised his voice and shook his head.

“But...”

“No. If I move against these then they will slide through my skin like pudding. She designed these specifically to bind me.”

“But....”

“No more buts.”

“You know it is no use to fight these off, Faith. You should give up and come with us,” Arukenimon laughed as she slid her hand through her hair.

Izzy looked up at her sharply.

“I see you remember what happened last time,” she turned to Matt and the others. “Did you know that he would kill you all if I asked him to?”

“Izzy would never willingly hurt us,” Joe said.

Arukenimon laughed as she pulled out one of her own hairs and Kari shifted uncomfortable.

“There are no control spirals around that you can use for your sick plans.”

“What a confidence that you have in yourself there. I realised the flaws in my special power and worked on it,” she turned to Izzy, who tried to shift away.

The webs closed around him and Matt could see blood sliding down his side as they cut into him.

“Let him go!”

“Matt, stop!” without a second thought Matt stopped, even though he didn’t want anything more than to run and free Izzy and realised Izzy was stopping him.

Black electrical wires left the web and surrounded Izzy as he screamed in pain.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!”

Kari moved forward but surprisingly it was Davis that stopped her.

“We can’t, we’d only get hurt and I think Izzy would feel it too, hurting him even more than he already is.”

“We have to do something!”

Matt saw blood coming from Izzy’s clenched fists as he tried to stop himself from screaming.

“You want me to stop, Faith?”

Arukenimon laughed as Izzy sank to his knees but frowned when red wires appeared around him and the web melted away.

The black electrical wires disappeared and Izzy breathed out as he got to his feet again.

He was bleeding and Matt moved to his side, but didn’t touch him as he knew Izzy would reject it.

“You’re getting weak, even your stupid Gazimon were stronger than that,” Izzy laughed, but it sounded strained.

Izzy took a step forward at the same time Arukenimon grabbed hold of her hair again.

“I can make you turn against your friends. You will kill them for me.”

“You will never turn me against my friends again,” Izzy growled and red streams of energy surrounded him as he spoke.

“You fool! Your friends are gone. You’ve been here for thirty-five hundred years. There is no way they’d still be alive!”

“Thirty.....you’ve been here for thirty-five hundred years?” Matt choked out as he looked at Izzy.

“You didn’t know?” there wasn’t emotion in his eyes any more as the red wires slowly disappeared and Izzy turned to Matt completely.

“No, ten years...you’ve been gone for ten years. It’s only been ten years for us,” Matt stared into Izzy’s eyes, knowing he’d be able to see the truth in them.

Izzy reached out and Matt carefully places his fingertips against Izzy’s like he’s seen Joe and Kari do at times and took a deep breath as several memories of the past ten years flashed through his mind before Izzy stepped away.

“Ten years. Is that truly all the human years it has been?”

He didn’t seem to be talking to Matt, but he answered anyway.

“Yes. The gate closed the day you were taken and didn’t open again until ten years later, the day we finally found you. We had no idea time moved differently again in the Digital World as you appear to be our age.”

“Oh,” Tears sprung to Izzy’s eyes but there were still no emotions in his eyes as he turned to Arukenimon.

“Time to finish you of before he gets here,” Izzy held up a hand and Arukenimon stumbled back in fear.

“You believe him? Who says he tells the truth? Who says he’s not lying and they left you for death!” she screamed hysterically.

“I’m Empathic. I can see when people lie to me. Didn’t you know empathy works two ways?”

“I can help you against him,” she suddenly changed her tone.

“Who’s him?” Matt asked confused.

“Someone stronger and higher in rank than her. Time’s up Spider woman.”

“I wouldn’t want to have you around when he gets here.”

Her sunglasses fell off to reveal two black eyes filled with fear and shock as she exploded into data before Izzy destroyed that too.

“What’s he doing?” Davis asked.

“Ensuring she can’t be reborn,” Matt replied as he stepped to Izzy’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Now she can be with the one she loves,” Izzy whispered and Matt pulled him into a hug.

“I couldn’t keep him save.....I am so sorry I failed you,” he whispered as he still remembered his promise from long ago clearly.

He had spend the last ten years trying to keep Tai from doing anything stupid and the one time the other had needed him he’d failed.

“It wasn’t your fault. I killed him, I killed all of them,” Izzy whispered.

“What do you mean?” 

“I tried to call out for help. If I hadn’t done that then you guys would never have come here in the first place. And then I gave up, despite the fact that I should have known better than to believe her when she said he was dead. I was willing to hand over those stupid powers if it meant she’d kill me. Kill me so....”

He trailed off as Matt pulled him back into his embrace.

“You are not at fault. They were torturing you, have been doing so for many years. All you wanted was to be with the one you love, there is nothing you did wrong. Even now they are all gone; you are not the one to blame. Arukenimon is and you took revenge for them....for us. You got that?”

“How touching, does anyone have a tissue?” they all turned to the harsh voice in shock....


	17. Chapter 17

Matt turned to see a very tall Digimon stand near them with an evil smile on his face. 

He looked like a combination of an octopus, a sharp and a grizzly bear and his head was covered in grey fur.

His ears looked like the fins of a sharp and he had a ratty nose with eight arms and they were all long, grey and furry, though he didn’t seem to have legs.

As he opened his large mouth, several long and pointy teeth became visible.

“So you’ve let Faith escape, Arukenimon. I knew I couldn’t count on you but at least you’ve already been punished.”

“Who’s that?” Davis moved in front of Kari.

“That’s Eucaliptusmon,” Izzy revealed. “Not one you want to meet in a dark alley.”

“I’ll say,” Matt swallowed as he knew the Digimon was without a doubt as powerful as he was ugly.

At the sound of Izzy’s snort, Matt turned and blushed as he realised Izzy had hear that.

“I see you remember me, young Digidestined. That makes things a little easier.”

“Looks like a few of your little friends are missing. Are they delayed or did something else happen to them?” he laughed as they all tensed.

“Keep it together, Davis,” Joe placed a hand on Davis’ shoulder as the boy sheeted in anger.

“Oh? Did I hit a bad nerve? You should know by now that you are completely alone. There are none that will help you, I mean...look at them,” he paused for a moment as he looked at the four Digidestined.

“They are actually trembling. And these are honestly the ones you’ve been putting your trust in all this time?”

“Don’t listen to him, Izzy,” Matt hissed as Izzy trembled.

“Be quiet, Digiscum!” Eucaliptusmon slammed one of his large arms into Matt and he was thrown backwards into Joe, who stumbled to keep them both upright.

“Matt!”

Matt groaned as he heard Izzy call his name and struggled to his feet.

He pushed the pain away as his gaze fell on Izzy.

He had to be strong. Izzy had been in constant pain for years, still had to be by the sight of him so he had no right to let a bit of pain from a fall slow him down.

“Don’t listen to a thing he says, Izzy.”

“Weaklings,” Eucaliptusmon laughed as he looked at Izzy. “Looks like your little friend is a little tougher than I thought but it doesn’t matter, he is no match to me. I suggest that you give me your power if you do not wish to see the rest of your friends die....or should I say, feel?”

“They are stronger than you think. They will defeat you, no matter what,” Izzy said.

“Oh really? Then why are most of them already defeated?”

“Because of me,” Izzy whispered as he looked down.

“What was that? I don’t think I heard you correctly,” Eucaliptusmon’ eyes were huge as they shimmered with power and evilness. The Digidestined could feel the evil in him so strongly that they all trembled at the sheer power.

“They died because of me,” Izzy repeated slowly.

“That is right, they did. And if they couldn’t even survive your powers then why do you think they stand a chance to survive mine?” Eucaliptusmon moved one of his arms.

“Supernova.”

Matt heard Izzy scream something as a gigantic fireball came him way, but he was frozen in place before he was suddenly tackled.

Matt and his saviour landed hard onto the ground and Matt gasped as he looked straight into Joe’s eyes. “It’s not over yet.”

Matt looked up as he felt himself be pulled to his feet by Davis and Kari as Eucaliptusmon fired more fireballs at them.

With their Digimon down, they had no way to defend themselves and huddled together to protect themselves from the flames.

Smoke rose up around them as the fireballs erupted all around them, but none seemed to hit them.

As soon as the attack had begun, it ended again and Eucaliptusmon straightened again.

“Why are you still trying to fight me, Faith? You tried before, and the time before that. And you failed; you kept failing, didn’t you?”

“Izzy,” Matt breathed out as he saw Izzy had been protecting them but the younger Digidestined didn’t seem to hear him.

“I don’t care if I fail or not. I cannot let you get away with hurting my friends.”

“You already hurt most of your group. You know you are going down.”

Izzy shook his head and Matt gasped as several lights appeared behind Eucaliptusmon.

“If anyone is going down, it will be you. We are way stronger than you will ever be.”

“With only four little weaklings at your side? They are already useless now! I don’t even know why I bother.”

He reached forward with his eight arms when Izzy suddenly smiled.

“We won’t defeat you with the five of us, we will defeat you with all of us,” as he said that Matt saw a bright light appear all around the five of them as seven lights spread around and slowly started to glow in the form of seven humans....


	18. Chapter 18

Eucaliptusmon’ eyes grew as wide as theirs as Matt looked shocked around him.

“What’s happening?” Davis yelled.

“It seems that Faith has discovered another part of his abilities,” Gennai smiled.

“What ability?” Joe asked confused.

“Temporary restoring life.”

Matt glanced at Izzy, who was smiling.

“Restoring life....does that mean?”

“For a while, yes.”

Tears appeared in all of their eyes as they stared at the seven forms that now showed them the features of their fallen friends.

Eucaliptusmon pulled out of his shock and lashed out with all of his eight arms, seven of them hitting one of the forms but going right through them like they weren’t even there while the eight was directed to Izzy.

Matt pulled him backward and lost his balance, pulling Izzy down with him so that Eucaliptusmon’ attack missed.

“Thank you for your help, Friendship. You truly are a friend,” Eucaliptusmon laughed as Matt jumped up again.

Confused Matt turned to Izzy, who was still on the ground and throwing up blood, a lot of blood.

“Izzy!” he knelt back down.

“Why?”

“He was going to hit you,” Matt frowned.

“That didn’t matter, I was prepared for that and wouldn’t have lost control.”

“Lose control over what?” Matt had no idea what Izzy was talking about and looked up when Eucaliptusmon laughed again.

“Looks like your little friend stopped you from completing what you were doing.”

“What he was doing?” Matt asked confused.

“He was trying to bring your little friends back. Really Faith, your friends are kind of stupid.”

Izzy didn’t react to him as the features of the seven lost Digidestined became clearer and Eucaliptusmon growled as he lashed out again.

“You aren’t listening to me!” he hit Izzy full force his time and Izzy gasped in pain as he was knocked into a rock, landing flat onto his stomach and staying that way for a long moment before rising to his feet again.

“We need to distract Eucaliptusmon,” Leomon suddenly said. “Izzy is trying to bring back the others but he needs time and Eucaliptusmon is attacking him to keep him from finishing.”

“How? Our Digimon are down, if we attack him ourselves he’ll just swat us away.”

“And he’ll kill Izzy before he’s finished at this rate,” Leomon growled before leaping forward. “First of the Beast King!”

He screamed as he hit the ground in front of Eucaliptusmon, taking him by surprise as the attack hit him full on.

He screamed something before he turned his attention to Leomon and dodged the second attack before laughing. 

“Ah, the lion king. You should know better than to fight me, little lion....Supernova!”

Leomon couldn’t avoid the attack and he screamed in pain as he was thrown backwards, landing right beside Davis who knelt down beside him.

“Are you all right?”

“No. This attack is eating me up from the inside. It’s burning me. He is so much stronger than I had ever thought,” he wasn’t looking at Davis, instead staring at his claws that were slowly disappearing before looking up.

“Protect him, Davis. Do anything you can to help him. He might have been surviving for thirty-five hundred years, but that doesn’t mean he’s invincible. He won’t survive if this keeps going on.”

“Leomon...” Davis gasped as Leomon grabbed onto him.

“Don’t give up on him.”

“Leomon....I....I don’t know if I can,” Davis whispered.

“Don’t lose Faith in him or he won’t be able to defeat him. Don’t let him become a lost hope like his parents before him.”

 

Leomon slowly turned into date as he disappeared. “Don’t lose hope....”

Davis felt tears roll down as Leomon disappeared from his arms, the lion’s words repeating themselves over and over again in his head and he closed his eyes tightly.

“Lose hope...T.K....why aren’t you here to tell me what to do? Even yelling at me wouldn’t matter.”

His eyes snapped open as a plan formed and he looked at Izzy, who was coughing up more blood after another attack.

“Don’t give up...right,” he turned to the others. “Distract him for a moment at any cost!”

He ran off towards Izzy while the others nodded.

“Seems like you cause another death, Faith. Don’t you ever grow tired of killing all those innocent Digimon?”

“Hey you, Eucaliptusmon. Do you have any idea of just how ugly you are?!”

Kari turned to Matt with a frown. “That’s really the best you can do?”

“It worked didn’t it?” he shrugged as the huge Digimon turned to him with a glare. “All right, I know you guys can’t defeat him, but we’ve got to buy Izzy time.”

Their Digimon nodded determined and Gomamon turned to the others. “For Izzy, we can do this!”

"Gomamon Digivolve into…. Ikkakumon…Harpoon torpedo!"

"Gabumon Digivolve into…Garurumon…Howling Blaster!"

"Veemon Armordigivolve into…Flamedramon… Fire rocket!"

"Gatomon Armordigivolve into…Nefertimon…. Rosetta stone!"

The three Digidestined looked worried as their Digimon attacked Eucaliptusmon and he threw their attacks aside like they were no more than annoying flies.

“Really, you think you stand a chance against me?”

“We won’t give up, we must keep fighting,” Ikkakumon growled as he glanced at where Davis was kneeling beside Izzy. “They need the time.”

The other Digimon nodded and attacked again to buy more time.


	19. Chapter 19

“Seems like you caused another death, Faith. Don’t you ever grow tired of killing all those innocent Digimon?”

Izzy didn’t respond to him as he saw Davis come running towards him.

“Davis?” 

Davis knelt down beside him and began to try and pull him up.

“You need to get up.”

“Why?”

“Because we need you to defeat Eucaliptusmon.”

“Is that all there is?” Izzy asked as he stumbled and Davis bit his lip before punching the ground.

“Damn it, you are supposed to be the strongest Digidestined ever. You should be able to defeat him.”

Izzy looked up towards the Digimon fighting Eucaliptusmon.

“They are fighting.”

“They are trying to buy time so that you can recover.”

“Is that the only reason they keep fighting, Davis? Or is there another reason as well?”

Sudden anger ran through Davis as he looked into Izzy’s dark eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“They are fighting because they have hope; hope that we can win this!”

“Where do they keep getting that hope? Everyone’s dead, we....I failed to protect them. I couldn’t protect them,” tears began to run down Davis’ cheeks.

“It is not your fault. I know you don’t believe me right now, but in a while you will understand what I mean, you couldn’t have helped them even if you had wanted to.”

“I survived when they didn’t.”

“It isn’t too late yet. I want to bring them back, even if it is the last thing I ever do. But I can’t do it on my own.”

Davis looked up to Izzy.

“Can you really bring them back?”

“I hope so.”

“Hope...why does everyone keep saying to have hope, what good does hope do?”

Izzy closed his eyes. “Hope gives people the strength to fight the dark. It gives them something to look forward to, something to fight for.”

“To fight for?”

“Hope brings light in the darkness and gives courage and strength to the scared to stand up against the dark on their own. It gives the friends of those fallen enough strength to keep believing in their friends, no matter what.”

“Is hope really that strong?”

Izzy smiled as he turned to him. 

“Think about when you have a soccer match. You are behind on score and it is almost time. You keep aiming for that one goal that can lead you to victory and make your friends and team proud of you.”

“I hope for a goal then...I see what you mean,” Davis smiled and held out his hand.

“It takes hope to awaken the other emotions.”

Izzy nodded as he took Davis’ hand and let him pull them up as Davis’ chest began to shine with his crest.

“What can I do to help you?”

“You just did,” Izzy smiled as he pulled his crest out from underneath Joe’s borrowed shirt and handed it over.

“If I don’t make it, use this.”

“What do you mean, if you don’t make it?”

“Just keep it with you for now,” Izzy smiled and Davis shrugged confused as he put the tag away in his pocket.

“Sure,” he turned to the others and saw that everyone’s crest shone on their chests. “Everyone...”

“They’re having hope,” Izzy smiled as he closed his eyes again and Davis could feel the same in his heart, he could feel his own hope.

“Bring back our friends,” he smiled as Izzy opened his eyes again to reveal the golden glow again.

Bright light, brighter than before appeared all around them, blinding even Eucaliptusmon and they all had to close their eyes to protect them.

As Davis opened his eyes again, he blinked, surprised to see Izzy collapse onto his knees with blood slipping out of his mouth.

“What went wrong?”

“Seems like your little trick didn’t work. Time for me to get serious then.”

Matt gasped as several arms spread out to knock them all of their feet.

“We can’t stop him anymore, what went wrong?”

Joe gasped as he sat up again. “It didn’t work; I think Izzy is too far out of power.”

Matt’s eyes widened as he suddenly realised something. “We took most of his powers away from him; he can’t do this without our help!”

Joe and Kari both gasped as they realised the same and Kari rolled her eyes as the two bickered.

“Instead of fighting each other, don’t you think we ought to help him?”

“I can’t seem to stand up,” Matt breathed out as he leaned on his arms.

Davis blinked as Matt’s words registered. “Your powers....they...”

“Taken...I forgot about that,” Izzy coughed as he scrambled into a sitting position while their Digimon tried to distract Eucaliptusmon. “Is there any way to give them back to me?”

“No, but you can bind your strengths together so Izzy can have access to it all,” Gennai held his hands.

“Don’t we need the others for that? Since they also hold part of his powers?” Davis asked.

“No, when they died that power was automatically returned to me,” Izzy scrambled to his feet as well as the others.

“Honestly, Faith. They took your powers from you, who needs enemies like me when you have friends like that. Why don’t you join me so that together we can rule the world?”

Disgust appeared on Izzy’s face as he turned to the others. “Hold out your hands and give me your strength.”

“You didn’t think I would truly let you do that, did you?” Eucaliptusmon laughed as he attacked again, but a shield surrounded them as Izzy collected the powers from the others and a curtain of smoke rose, making him incapable of trying anything until he could see them again.

Eucaliptusmon laughed again as the smoke began to clear up, revealing the five standing there, still with their hands clasped together. 

“And what exactly did you think would happen?” his laughter died abruptly when the smoke cleared completely to show a total of twelve young humans, twelve Digidestined who were all looking determined to stop him.

“Took you long enough,” a young man with brown hair that defied all gravity grinned.....


	20. Chapter 20

“How...”

Izzy stepped forward. “I told you not to underestimate their power.”

Eucaliptusmon slowly backed away from them and Izzy turned as the brown-haired boy stepped up beside him.

“Hey.”

“What took you so long?” Tai grinned a he entangled their fingers together.

“Distractions, you know how it is,” Izzy smiled.

Matt carefully reached out to touch Sora’s hand. “You’re really back, I can’t believe it.”

Sora laughed as she pulled him into a hug while Mimi did the same to Joe.

Kari ran to T.K. and threw herself into his arms, laughing with tears in her eyes as T.K. caught her.

“Hi there, angel.”

Davis stared at Ken, Yolei and Cody. “You guys...”

The three moved as one to pull him close and he happily leaned into their hugs, closing his arms around Ken as he took Cody and Yolei’s hands.

“Don’t you ever leave me alone with these maniacs again.”

All three of them laughed and Yolei and Cody stepped back when Ken placed a kiss in Davis’ hair.

“You were really brave earlier.”

“You saw that?”

“We saw everything that happened and I think it is time we got rid of that guy,” Yolei’s expression turned serious as they all turned to Eucaliptusmon.

Davis nodded. “All right, let’s do this.”

Power was seen in all of them as they held hands and they all closed their eyes and focused their energy on Izzy as their crests appeared on their chests that gave him the necessary power he needed to get their Digimon there.

They all looked a little confused and surprised to being there before their eyes fell onto both their Digidestined partners and Eucaliptusmon.

“Guess that means we’re in trouble again,” Agumon shrugged.

“All right everyone...Digivolve!”

"Agumon Digivolve into Greymon"

"Biyomon Digivolve into Birdramon."

"Palmon Digivolve into Togemon."

"Patamon Digivolve into Angemon."

"Armadillomon Armordigivolve into Digmon."

"Wormmon Armordigivolve into Stingmon."

Hawkmon and the other digimon digivolved as well and soon eleven huge Digimon stood in front of Eucaliptusmon.

Izzy closed his eyes as in front of him a bow and arrow appeared and the others all send their crests to Izzy. Once all the power was in the arrow Izzy levitated it to Angewomon, who took it.

“All right guys, attack!”

“Supernova!” Eucaliptusmon burned away the attacks that came at him, but instead of backing away like before, the Digimon just continued to attack until they broke through his defence.

Izzy held up their energy so that they could keep going but eventually their energy did run out and Greymon turned to Tai.

“Just how strong is that guy?”

“it almost seems like his is indestructible,” Tai frowned.

“He’s not,” Izzy looked at Eucaliptusmon until he found an opening. 

“Now!”

Out of nowhere an attack was thrown at Eucaliptusmon.

“Electro shocker!”

The electrical attack hit him with full force and all the other Digimon followed the example, crashing Eucaliptusmon to the ground underneath their combined attacks.

Angewomon aimed the arrow as he fell and shot it straight into his heart and Eucaliptusmon gasped as he glowed with the power of them all.

“How.....you are just mere humans.”

“Nothing is stronger than us. We humans may seem weak because we fight with the emotions in our heart, but you know what? Those emotions make us strong and as long as we have them, evil guys like you can’t destroy us!” Davis informed him.

“This cannot be...they....can’t...”

“It seems like you are defeated, Eucaliptusmon,” Izzy said softly as the Digimon turned to him as he began to disappear.

A huge insect landed next to Izzy and de-Digivolved into Tentomon.

“Izzy!” 

Izzy hugged his Digimon with a smile as the other Digimon also de-Digivolved and jumped into their human’s arms.

“I cannot...I will not,” Eucaliptusmon growled at the scene before him and reached out with his arm as Tai moved towards Izzy.

“Faith’s love...his strength...I....”anger shot through his eyes as he disappeared completely.

“We did it,” Tai grinned as he reached Izzy’s side, but Izzy saw something flash towards him.

“Tai!” he pushed Tai out of the way as he saw Eucaliptusmon’ last desperate attack, not having time to call up a shield as the fireball hit him full force in the side, bright light covering him for a long moment before he was thrown off his feet.

“Izzy...Izzy!” Tai screamed as he crashed into the ground and stayed there, unmoving.


	21. Chapter 21

Time seemed to slow down as he was pushed out of the way and Izzy hit the ground, his eyes closed and unmoving.

“Izzy...Izzy!” he crawled to him and lifted him into his arms, carefully trying to avoid the burns on the younger man’s body.

Blood was covering the younger Digidestined and Tai’s heart clenched.

“Izzy....please wake up...wake up!”

He carefully shook him, but Izzy didn’t open his eyes, unresponsive in Tai’s arms.

Tears appeared in his eyes as he desperately searched for a heartbeat, unable to find one.

“Don’t do this to me, please .....Don’t leave me,” he shook Izzy more violently.

“Tai....” from the corner of his eyes Tai could see Matt knelt down beside him.

“Tai.”

Ignoring his friend, he shook Izzy again, crying when he got no reaction.

“It’s no use, Tai...he...he’s gone.”

“No! Izzy’s strong.”

“I know he is, but you have to be realistic, not even Izzy can reverse death.”

“Yes he can! He brought us back too, so he’ll just have to concentrate his powers and come back to me.”

Sobbing, Tai brushed his tears away violently, leaving traces of blood and dirty behind as he did.

“He can’t, Tai,” Matt tried again as his own eyes filled with tears.

“Matt’s right, Tai,” Joe knelt down on his other side and slowly began to pull Izzy’s body away from him.

“No, it will be all right, he’ll come back.”

Joe shook his head, his own tears falling as well. “No....I’m sorry but he won’t, Tai.”

“He did so before. Everyone thought he was dead but he came back then. Why can’t he do the same thing now?”

“He won’t just pop out of the bushes saying it’s all a prank. He’s gone. He sacrificed himself to save us,” Davis whispered, rubbing away his own tears. “He gave his own life for ours.”

“Then I want to die too,” Tai pulled away from Joe and took Izzy’s hand.

“Kill me.”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“Yes he would!”

“He wouldn’t want you to.”

“I don’t care!” 

Matt closed his eyes before punching Tai right across the face, causing the other to stumble. “Damn it, Tai1”

“W-why?” shocked Tai looked up to Matt, not bothering to brush away the tears again as he laid there. “He pushed me out of the way. It should have been me instead of him. Why? Why did he push me away?”

Matt took a deep breath. “Because he loved you and didn’t want you to get hurt. He...he loves you so much, Tai. More so than you will ever imagine.”

“I can’t....how can I live on without him again?”

Matt wiped away his tears as he knelt down beside him.

“Because that is what he’d want. I bet he’s watching over us now with those intensive black eyes of his, wondering what the hell we are all crying about. And yelling at us for wasting so much precious time to have fun.”

Tai chuckled despite himself. “That does sound like him.”

“He’d want each and all of us to live life to the fullest and not look back to the bad times.”

Tai nodded slowly, brushing a hand over Izzy’s lifeless body before turning his gaze to the others.

“It’s over, isn’t it?”

Kari nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Wait, I thought Izzy couldn’t bring us back for good, will we disappear again?” Sora asked and they all turned to Gennai.

“I...I’m not sure,” he glanced down at Izzy’s body. “Izzy is....I mean was very strong. I don’t know how strong he truly was. If he was truly strong enough to bring you all back for good.”

Davis knelt down beside Veemon when he felt something inside his pocket and frowned as he pulled out Izzy’s tag and crest.

“Where did you get that?” T.K. asked.

“Izzy gave it to me while you guys were distracting Eucaliptusmon. He said to use it if he wouldn’t make it. I...I didn’t understand what he meant.”

Joe looked at the small crest inside Davis’ hand. “It is Faith and Knowledge combined. He combined his two crests...why?”

“He knew,” Kari took the crest from Davis.

“Knew what?” Yolei asked.

“That he wouldn’t make it. Why else would he give his crest to Davis?”

Cody nodded. “That makes sense, but still. Why would he give his crest to Davis? What good would a crest without an owner do? Unless he stored power into it, it is useless.”

Matt and Joe’s faces both snapped up at that.

“Of course, he thought of a back-up plan.”

“To revive himself?” Mimi asked confused.

“No, he knew that as long as he was alive, Dark Digimon would hunt him down. Alive he would only bring us into more danger and he’d never want that. He stored his power to bring you guys back,” Matt realised.

Tai nodded as he took Izzy’s crest from his sister. “Hold out your crests.”

They all did as they were told and taking a deep breath, Tai held Izzy’s crest in the middle.

It immediately lit up and as his light weakened, the other crests began to glow one by one until Izzy’s crest lost its glow completely and snapped in the middle.

The other crests kept on glowing as they floated up to their owner’s neck and they could all feel the power as their glow surrounded them completely, blinding them from their Digimon’s gaze.

Closing their eyes against the bring light, they realised they were being brought back home.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

An old man walked past the graves to one small grave at the end of the cemetery.

A grave that was surrounded by all kinds of flowers, leaving only a small entryway and the stone itself free of them almost as if by magic.

A soft wind blew into the man’s face, but he paid it no attention as he knelt down by the grave with difficulty.

Tired brown eyes showed old age and lots of experience in a life well lived as he brought a trembling hand up to the letters engraved into the tombstone.

For years, there had been nothing inside the little grave. 

But after many years, a place was given to him to visit the one he loved most and he had been visiting it every day for the past eighty years now.

While his right hand kept tracing the letters, his left pulled out a red rose from his jacket and placed it down onto the grave.

A gentle smile appeared on his wrinkled old face as a light breeze moved through his hair but didn’t disturb the flowers.

With one last glance at the small grave, he rose to his feet and went back the way he’d come, pausing at the end of the lane to see flowers crawl away from beside the grave, making place for another one between them.

The sight should have frightened him, but he only smiled and nodded warmly as a young man with red hair and eyes as black as coal looked to him.

“Soon....you keep waiting for me, Iz. Soon, we’ll be together again.” 

The boy dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement before disappearing again and the old man turned around to disappear around the corner. Knowing his time was finally coming.

The end.


End file.
